# FREE 11/18 & 19 - Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Tradition Publisher?



## Edward C. Patterson

*FREE Today & Tomorrow Nov 18th & 19th at Amazon*


*FREE Friday - May 9th at Amazon*

by Edward C. Patterson
*Kindleboard Profile for Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditional Publisher?*
With the new and exciting world of Kindles and Print-on-Demand (POD), Independent Publishing is becoming an enticing choice and a viable alternative to traditional publishing. The old days of "self-publishing and vanity presses" are over. Indie Authors are giving readers a wide variety of quality reads in all genres. Are you unsure of how to go about it? Do you crave to know the best options? What are the pitfalls? From discussions of picking up the traditional process and bringing it home, to setting up files for Amazon's Kindle and POD, "Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditional Publisher?" provides tips and ideas, set-by-steps and coaching on quality control. Edward C. Patterson has successfully published twenty-two works with twelve in the pipeline. In addition to the title article, this work includes three other craft discussions: "Writing Good Stories","The Novelization Process", and "Revision vs. Re-Vision", an extensive guide to revising a novel. Whether you are new to publishing or an established author, the opinions expressed and experiences shared in this book should stimulate your curiosity and provide answers to questions you might not have asked.[/b] 
  

A snippet

"The First Step is Validation

Becoming an Indie Author means, you must take all the responsibility for yourself in print (or e-book). That means that all the things that a traditional publisher would give you if they weren't in such a precarious position to take on one in 80,000. The first of these responsibilities is a hard one. The HARDEST one. Is your work publishable? (Not marketable - that's a different question and has nothing to do with writing). Is your work good enough? Too many writers think that every word they write is a blessing from Mt. Olympus. In fact, most writers think they are perfection - first draft is magic, immaculate - eat your heart out Stephen King. However, the fact is, if you want your work published, you need to validate your talent. Not with your friends and family either, because they will tell you that you're the next J.K. Rowling - and they will never buy your books. (Rule of the Jungle - Friends and Family do not buy your books). What you need is the opinions of 1) perfect strangers - beta-readers, and 2) a professional editor, agent, or an annotated rejection from one of the Dead-Tree houses (a fond, but catty name that Indie Authors have coined for traditional publishers)."

Enjoy
Edward C. Patterson

For the author in everyone, now comes something completely different:

It covers: (Some have asked) - Kindle formatting, Indie Publishing rules and advice, CreateSpace (and Lulu's on-line software for galleys), promotion and there's 50 pages on tips for revisiing novels.

*Table of Contents

Part I
Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditional Publisher?

Are You Self-Published, an Indie Author, or just waitin' around?
The First Step is Validation
We Know Why You Write - So Why Do You want to be Published?
Editting - Grandma and Spieling Countt
Publishing Trends - Sunrise and Sunset
Deciding What to Publish
Just in Time, I found you Just in Time
Manuscript Preparation - One
Adding Pages for Kindle Manuscript Preparation
Launching Your Masterpiece on the Kindle (Start Your Engines)
Launching Your Manuscript on the Kindle Let's Do It
Pieces of Eight - The Amazon Kindle Page (Kindle)
Preparing Your Manuscript for CreateSpace
Lulu's Book Wizard
Forwad March into Print - CreateSpace
The Short Waiting Game
Promoting Yourself on the Amazon Discussion Groups
Working the On-line Streets
Your Book and the Public
It's a Wrap

Part II
Articles on Writing

Writing Good Stories

The Novelization process

Revision vs. Re-vision

Approaching Revisions
Rethinking and Revising Imagery in Novels
Revising the Horror of Stage Directions
Maintaining and Violating POV in a Novel
Logic vs. Illogic - Hanging the Lanterns
How to End a Novel
Sound and Sense - Shelley vs. Dickens*​
What Readers say about Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditional Publisher?

"If you're thinking of writing a book, if you're tired of the traditional publisher slush-piles, if you want to improve your writing or your promotions, or if you want to see how wacky authors think, get this book and learn. You won't be sorry. "

"Edward C. Patterson gives invaluable tips for determining whether a book is actually ready to publish, then he tells exactly how to get the manuscript formatted for ebook and POD. The second half of the book is filled with writing tips that prospective authors can use to polish their work before publishing. You can't go wrong with this book. Buy it today and get your manuscript in print in a matter of weeks, not years."

"If you're thinking about self publishing or new to the business, do yourself a favor and read "Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditional Publisher?" before you step onto that lonely path alone. "

"If I had read this book earlier it would have saved me untold hours of Googling and worrying"

"Edward Patterson writes with intelligence, humor and considerable knowledge of the industry. "

"The writer addresses the reader in a conversational fashion - this is readily acceptable and helps make his advice clear."

Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditional Publisher http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001O9BERY

Edward C. Patterson
Author of The Jade Owl Legacy Series


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Just recieved a new 5-star review (my 9th on this title) on Amazon, today. Come take a peek:

Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditional Publisher?

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Let me clarify the word *FREE.* I am not out to sell a gijillion copies of this work. It's a give back to the Indie authoring world. I realized that many readers would be interested in the possibility of publishing their own works and look upon it as an ivory tower impossibility. To that I say, *BULLoney* and offer my book for the nominal $ ,99, but since we put our money where our mouth is, anyone who wants it for free need only contact me and ask. [email protected]

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Response has been good, so I expect a flock of new writers launching their own creative wonders out there on Kindle and through CreteSpace.

Edward C. Patterson
Glad to help


----------



## davem2bits

Does sending letters to Penthouse Forum count?


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Of course it does, if you also mean to bundle them up and publish them on Kindle or in print at CreateSpace. That's what the book helps you do.  

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Remember, you can request this work or free by sending me an email [email protected] or for $ .99 you can have instant gratification. 

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Wow, I can't keep up with the free requests. Good for you all. I loved writing this book and I love sharing it.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Kevis Hendrickson

Ed,

You are always a source of great information. I would definitely love to read your book.


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Here's the opening shot over the bow sprint:

*The First Step is Validation*

Becoming an Indie Author means, you must take all the responsibility for yourself in print (or e-book). That means that all the things that a traditional publisher would give you if they weren't in such a precarious position to take on one in 80,000. The first of these responsibilities is a hard one. The HARDEST one. Is your work publishable? (Not marketable - that's a different question and has nothing to do with writing). Is your work good enough? Too many writers think that every word they write is a blessing from Mt. Olympus. In fact, most writers think they are perfection - first draft is magic, immaculate - eat your heart out Stephen King. However, the fact is, if you want your work published, you need to validate your talent. Not with your friends and family either, because they will tell you that you're the next J.K. Rowling - and they will never buy your books. (Rule of the Jungle - Friends and Family do not buy your books). What you need is the opinions of 1) perfect strangers - beta-readers, and 2) a professional editor, agent, or an annotated rejection from one of the Dead-Tree houses (a fond, but catty name that Indie Authors have coined for traditional publishers).

from _Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditional Publisher?_ by

Edward C Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

This book has two sections - one for Indie Publishing and the second for writing a Novel and the revision process. Here's a selection from the second section:

*The Novelization Process*

*When my grandmother gave me a typewriter in the days of yore, I never thought of writing as a process. In fact, I never considered writing as an element in a process called authoring. Who would, until you've done it? I was always amazed by the authors who wrote complex stories; journeys to the ends of the earth, with hundreds of characters and locations and subplots, and still managed to see clear to a cogent, comprehensive work. How did all that genius spill out of quills into the world's libraries and collective imaginations? The answer I only discovered now, after authoring three epic works (with plenty left in the pipeline). In the doing is the learning. The PROCESS.

I also learned that every author develops their own process. These processes are all akin, but cleave to personal temperaments, craft proficiency, schedules and styles. Some are free form and flimsy. Others are nattered and painterly. All depend on one thing: dedication to writing daily.

My process begins with several weeks (sometimes months) of thinking about a subject. THE RULE BOOKS say: write it down or you'll forget it. Carry a notepad around. That doesn't work for me. If a subject is forgotten, it was forgettable. If it comes back a few times, its worthy of consideration. There are many things the BOOKS say that I disregard, but what surprises me is that many writers fail in their novelizations because they don't really know what a novel is. My definition is: A Novel is a story that starts in the author's imagination and takes seed in the reader's imagination, germinating into a complete and satisfying experience for both. Of course, this definition depends on a corollary definition. What is a story? Well, here's what I've come to learn. A story is a reflection of character reactions and development to setting, organics and a series of events. That covers all the main elements of a novel, but as a reflection, it places the one element that many writers omit-the reader's imagination and participation in the realization of the piece. Many authors forget this. They chug out a plot like the little engine that couldn't-cars filled with places and characters, who are all aboard for the ride, but never are given the chance to drive the train. *

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

New 5-star Amazon review from a Kindleboarder. Thank you BookGirl.

http://www.amazon.com/Still-Submitting-Your-Traditional-Publisher/product-reviews/1441407383/ref=cm_cr_dp_all_helpful?ie=UTF8&coliid=&showViewpoints=1&colid=&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

This work started as a blog to help Indie Authors and mushroomed o a book. It is my contribution back to te community that has supported my success. You can either buy it or send me an email [email protected] and I'll send  you a .pdf. It would be my pleasure. I just recieved a email from aa Indie author that told me they were buying the papeback (3.99) because they wanted it handy on the shelf to lend out to friends. I'm both flattered and honored.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Tanner Artesz

Edward C. Patterson said:


> During July you can get Are You Still . . . for free at Smashwords.co during the Summer madness sale.
> 
> http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/316
> 
> Edward C. Patterson


I just got this, Ed, even though I already publish through CreateSpace and kindle. I am no where near the proficiency I wish. Hopefully this will add to my education. Thanks for the summer madness thing. It is greatly appreciated.

Tanner


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Thaks and enjoy Tanner. Anyone who has questions on this suff feel free to ask, both on the technical aspect (things change rapidly) or in the craft arena, feel free to ask.

Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

During July you can get Are You Still . . . for free at Smashwords.co during the Summer madness sale.

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/316

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

New review - Five stars (not on Amazon.com)

Review by: Jess C Scott on Jul. 16, 2009 : 
I didn't really know of the term "Indie Author", until reading this (I always thought it meant exactly the same thing as being "Self-Published", lol).

I've already gone through the whole PDF uploading onto CreateSpace (for print), as well as uploading a file onto Kindle -- if you're a newbie to all that kind of stuff, Mr. Patterson will take you through the steps in an engaging, lively writing style.

I, personally, shall have to work on the networking part [including getting onto author/reader forums, and getting some purchases/rankings/reviews going on Amazon (eventually!)].

Smashwords https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/316

Thank you Jess
Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Just drop me an email [email protected] an I'll send you a free .pdf.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

FOR Kindleboarders only: FREE in Kindle format on Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/316 Be Sure to select the latest file, which is *2009-07-17 13:11:28 * when prompted at Smashwords.

Enjoy
Edward C. Patterson


----------



## intinst

Thank you, Edward.


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

If I could give Kindleboards all the pleasure that it has given me, I would do it over and over again.

Enjoy

Ed P


----------



## sierra09

Ed, does that happen to cover how to format a file into proper Kindle format? That's my problem, figuring out the formatting so it looks right.   I'd like to learn how to do it myself.


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

It covers Kindle formatting, Indie Publishing rules, CreateSpace (and Lulu's on-line software), promotion and there's 50 pages on tips for revision novels.

Ed Patterson


----------



## Morpheus Phreak

Thank you so much for this Ed.

I'll be using this before too long when I work on fleshing out an idea I had to see if it can work as a full novel.


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Your welcome

Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Just received today, a new five star review of "Are You Still . . . " from a reader on Smashwords.

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/316

There's a few nice reviews there (I wou'dn't send you there if ther weren't). 

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Still going for FREE.

Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

BTW, the book isn't just set=up and marketing tips. Half of it deals with writing techniques. Here's a snippet on a technique I call "Rush and Full Stop." It's from the fifty pages or so in the book that I devote to revising novels.

*"Rush and full stop
This is a rhythmic device born by breaking a grammar rule - that series need to be separated by a comma, the last of which needs the conjunctive "and" and then a full stop. For the most part, you should follow this rule, BUT if you want to pick up the pace and create a frenetic or enthralled sense, forget the commas and use the "and" incessantly.

Boring:
She saw the feast spread before her, roast beef, potatoes, gravy and cream. Each place was set with silver plates, cutlery and cups. Every imaginable flower wreathed the candelabras. Her stomach rumbled.

Exciting:
She sucked in the aromas of the feast - roast beef and gravy and new potatoes in parsley sauce and almonds winking in cream and set on silver plates that shimmered in the candlelight; and around those candles were roses and ivy and sprays of lilac, all conspiring to draw her away from the wonders of the bounty and the rumbles of her tummy. Heaven.

First, the enthralled sense is created by the implosion of the "rule." Your computer's spell and grammar check will be barking at your "long sentence - consider revising," to which you might consider telling your word processor to go #$%@ . . . oh well. Too poetic. The first "boring" example lacks exciting description and lacks aroma. It's "food" after all. It also begins with a passive sentence, which fights any sense of enthrallment. The flowers are relegated to "every imaginable flower." Good luck there.

Now we kick it up. Because the reader expects the sentence to end, we don't end it, which creates mental breathlessness. We don't even stop when the clause calls for it, something my fifth grade teacher would call "a run on sentence." Call the fire brigade, Miss Gibbs. Then, here's the trick - full stop. A one-word sentence, which could be any word. I choose "heaven," but we could have said "Yum," or "Amazing." The word doesn't matter. It's punctuation, that's all.

An important use for rush and full stop is in sequeling, when the protagonist is reviewing crisis and issues in rapid succession, summarily raising the reader's blood pressure."*

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Wow, this has rocketed - for free. Duh. I'm so glad people are reading it. It let's me give back to the community of readers and writers.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

I just got a sterling endorsement of this book on oneof the Amazon Discussion threads, which is unlinkable, but made me blush and thus would lead me to share it:

"Holy cow, Edward, I wish I had read your book a couple of months ago, it would have saved me a lot of weeping and wailing. I downloaded it and read through a few sections. It looks great! Thanks very much, you've made a reader (and believer) out of me. I have several friends who are on the fence about writing their first book, and I'll make sure they check out your work, since they're avid readers too.

Thanks and cheers,
Jim" ( JL Chambers)


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

By popular request, I am including a list of the topics in this book, so readers, authors and wannabees can assess the applicability. BTW, last night I had a request from an MIT professor for the book who wants to use it for a class he's teaching.

*Part I
Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditional Publisher?

Are You Self-Published, an Indie Author, or just waitin' around?
The First Step is Validation
We Know Why You Write - So Why Do You want to be Published?
Editting - Grandma and Spieling Countt
Publishing Trends - Sunrise and Sunset
Deciding What to Publish
Just in Time, I found you Just in Time
Manuscript Preparation - One
Adding Pages for Kindle Manuscript Preparation
Launching Your Masterpiece on the Kindle (Start Your Engines)
Launching Your Manuscript on the Kindle Let's Do It
Pieces of Eight - The Amazon Kindle Page (Kindle)
Preparing Your Manuscript for CreateSpace
Lulu's Book Wizard
Forwad March into Print - CreateSpace
The Short Waiting Game
Promoting Yourself on the Amazon Discussion Groups
Working the On-line Streets
Your Book and the Public
It's a Wrap

Part I
Articles on Writing

Writing Good Stories

The Novelization process

Revision vs. Re-vision

Approaching Revisions
Rethinking and Revising Imagery in Novels
Revising the Horror of Stage Directions
Maintaining and Violating POV in a Novel
Logic vs. Illogic - Hanging the Lanterns
How to End a Novel
Sound and Sense - Shelley vs. Dickens*​
Hope this helps

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Lynn McNamee

I just got my copy, Edward.

Thanks so much!


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

And I just cross-referenced it one of your threads.  

Ed P


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Might I add, RedAdept (adn to all), the book may be free and non-fiction, but feedback (and reviewsof it) are always welcome.  

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Lynn McNamee

I will keep that in mind, Edward, when I get around to using it. I do plan on actually using it at some point.


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Well, it comes with an atttachement. Me. There are 250 readers of this little as of 4 PM today, and I hear fro many of them with quesions and requests for help. Keeps my hopping, but if one decides to pick up a torch to light the way, one doesn't drop the torch mid-tunnel and say - find you own way out.  

Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

*Question to authors here (or those interested in authoring). How have you found the information in this book as applied to your own Independent publishing pursuits? What would you like to see added, as I am considering a revision and update later in the year. Do you think it would make an interesting Amazon blog? I am also thinking along those lines, now that RedAdept has shown me how to fire up a Kindle subscription blog.*

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Please take the poll, if you're so inclined.   Thanks.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Lynn McNamee

I think it's a great idea, Edward!


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Yep. And now I am collaborating with another author (who posts here) and knows a ton of Kindle and Publishing stuff. So, stay tune all a we sew this project together.

Edward C. Patterson

PS: That author might chime in here and make the collaboration offiial, official.


----------



## Greg Banks

Yep, that other author would be me. I've been tied up on launching another project of my own plus other work lately, but I'm ready to work with Ed to make this blog a reality. One of the things we'll do is spotlight indie authors and their books, give them a place to introduce themselves and their works to the world. And the The Indie Spotlight will be THE place to go to find new and innovative authors that you might not find otherwise, and to learn about these books before you make a purchase.

Also, we'll hopefully have book reviews and Ed and I will share our wit, witticisms, and knowledge at times along the way that both readers and authors will enjoy.


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Thanks Greg. I see that the poll is moving in a favorable direction.

Ed Patterson


----------



## MariaESchneider

Thanks Ed.  I downloaded it from smash and mentioned it on mobileread (there's a thread out there with people asking some questions about this and that.)  It's nice to be able to point them to something.  Of course, the first reader that posted after that mentioned they prefer feedbooks...

:>)

I hope that Sony or B&N gets a better storefront than is available currently for Sony readers (and other formats).  There's so many ebook storefronts and no one wants to belong to every single one (reader or publisher) that is for sure!


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Thanks Maria:

NEWS! Smashwords catalog is being prepared for release to B&N and Fictionwise - so all the books that are accepted to the new catalog on Smashwords will be available in ePub to Barnes & Noble, Fictionwise and other eBook publishers. Authors who are not on Smashwords shoudl . . . well in the words of Hillel "If not now . . . when?"

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Thanks for the feedback. It will be a GO - so stay tune for a Subcription Blog that will spotlight the best in Indie publishing "The Authors"

On behalf of Gregory Banks and myself, thanks.

Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Stil being offered for free in September availble in Kindle, pdf, eBub, sony and other formats on Smashwords. many 5-star reviews on Amazon and Smashwords (and even Author's Den):

*Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditional Publisher?* by Edward C. Patterson
a Guide to Indie Publishing, getting your book on Kindle, on CreateSpace and also an extensive look at revising a Novel
110 pages

Kindle download at Smashwords. com http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/316 (Feedback appreciated and a review highly prized)
Edward C. Patterson


----------



## JimC1946

Ed quoted my comments on one of the Amazon forums. I don't know what else I could add, but listen up: if you're an indie or even thinking about publishing your work, run - don't walk - and download his guide. It's a treasure trove of information. I paid $15 a couple of months ago for a DTB guide to publishing on Amazon, and it's not half as useful as Ed's free guide.

Ed, I just left a review at Smashwords.


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Thank you Jim:

Later in the year I hope to revise this work to include Smashwords, new Kindle techniques, Blog Subcirptions, Kindleboards, and a little guide to Reviewers (Reader Reviewer, Niche Reviewers, How to handle a 1-star Review, Fair Reviews and Opinions, Feedback as Reviews, Using reviews to promote and a whole thing on Pathological Trasher Reviewers called "The Sewer Reviewer.")   I also have a growing list of places to promote paperback versions, like The Deepening and a list I call "Tenuta's" list, which I'm about to test for effectiveness. We must also promote the great importance of Kindleboards, ebookgab and kindlers-anonymous, as well as the rules of using the Amazon threads, which seem to shift with the tide. There's also new stuff at CreateSpace and I'd like to include a chapter on promotional materials (booksmarks, mugs, t-shirts, calenders, lopped off pieces of your anatomy "only kidding") and promotional events (flash contests, freebie giveaways, easter egg hunts and naked conga dancing 1.1). Some of these things will be covered, I am sure in Greg Banks and my imminent Amazon Blog Kindle Subscription, which Greg has named "The Kindle Spotlight." Nifty title, ain't it?

Ed Patterson


----------



## MariaESchneider

Hi Ed,

Not that you need expansion suggestions, but I was browsing through your book this morning, specifically looking for advice on pricing ebooks.  Why?  Well, I've been browsing the smashwords catalog and I've been*amazed* at some of the prices people are charging.  20 dollars for a 5k piece?  10 and 12 or pieces that are in the 20k range...and so on.  

Granted those that don't know that people are looking to ebooks for bargains...aren't much competition for those of us pricing our books in the "what a steal" category...but I thought a section on how to price and why, maybe even a discussion on how to use Smashwords coupons to best advantage...supply/demand and so on...

Maybe you have this covered, but I haven't run across it just yet in my browsing.



Much to do this weekend, off to get some of it done!
Maria


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Thanks Maria:

That's a good point. Pricing is an issue that I take for granted, now that I hae most of books on the kindle for $ .99. When I wrote the FREEBIE (it's still $ .99 on Amazon and a paper copy is $6.50), my books were priced a $ 3.99. Now only The jade Owl Legacy books are priced at that. When I put out my first Kindle book - the little Cutting the Cheese, I priced it at $ 9.00. Who knew. I think that pricing is a matter of whether an author wants readers or money. I want readers. Still, yesterday I had a paperback sale of The Dragon's Pool which costs $17.95 (on the Kindle $3.99), and gave Amazon the lion share of the money. It's funny, because my royalty on that sale is lower on the paper version than on the kindle. (we're talking $1.40 for indle vs. $1.06 in paper). Still its a great add to the book, and when I revise it I think the topic should be opened, if not concluded.

Thanks
Edward C. Patterson


----------



## MariaESchneider

Thanks Ed.  That's pretty much what I meant.  I think authors are unaware of the difference price can have because they probably haven't read the various forum threads on the topic.  It just helps to entertain the whole idea of supply/demand and price point so I think an addition of what you've learned would really help.  

Maria


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

You welcome Maria

Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

A snippet from my Free offering_*Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditional Publisher?*_ Here's the bit called:

*Writing Good Stories*

What constitutes a good story? The debate rages. Is it a great plot, or interesting material? Is it climbing inside the reader's head with well-crafted character studies and globe stopping themes? As any published author can tell you, if you have a good subject, a well-defined theme, a detailed plot and a battery of super-characters, you will probably write the great snooze work of the century. Well, perhaps not, if you know what to do with most of these elements, which in most cases is to trim, muddle, blur and curtail them. As J. R. R. Tolkien said in his introduction to The Lord of the Rings, "This story grew in the telling." That is how good stories are born-in the telling.

If you now are shaken because you have researched materials for five years and have enough elemental surplus to populate seven novels, be of good cheer. All you need to make it work is to tell a story. Remember, you have material, characters, plots, images, and dare we say, themes. But, in the long run, unless your readers are bored literature professors who are looking for thematic prevalence, all you need to do is tell your story and, most important, engage the reader.

Engaging the reader is the most important key to commercial and literary success. If you fail to engage your readers, you lose your readers. With no readers, you have library shelf dust. Is this pandering? No. You need to know who your potential readers are and, especially in genre fiction, if it is a specific readership slice that requires particular treatment. For example, if you are writing in the Slice of Life genre, you know your reader needs some emotional impetus; while, a mystery/adventure needs puzzles and solutions. However, no genre is so grounded in itself to exclude a variety of story telling techniques to the exclusion of a more general readership. It is true that if your subject material is Bloodletting in Medieval Malta, you may exclude a portion of potential readership. However, story telling begins after the reader is seized between the covers, not before. It begins on page one, and must engage, engage and continue to engage until the end.

There are five sound story-telling techniques discussed here, which can be used to engage the reader in most genres. There are others to be sure. These are shared with the buoyancy that, hard and fast rules make for grammar, not style. These five techniques are easy to remember, especially when reviewing your work prior to an editor's touch. Remember that your editor will shine you up more if you have applied as much polish as you can before submission. These techniques are: twist, resonate, image, seed and move.

Twisting is something we generally lose when we gain clear sight of characters, plots and themes. We may have planned a great plot twist, but we fail to remember that twisting is an old story telling technique, a technique key to every campfire since stories have been told. From the tall tales of Homer to the great yarns of Mark Twain, twisting the story is the great differentiation. Such twists, of course, need to be carefully considered. In fact, twisting may be an exercise you engage before you write. You do not need to bother the reader with all your twists, only the results-the engaging results. Here is an example.

You have a scene set on a lonely road. A main character drives up and stops, obviously lost. He walks about his car looking at a map. Suddenly, he sees a farmhouse nearby. Driving to it, he knocks on the door to ask for directions. An old man emerges and gives him a glass of water and advice. The main character thanks him and drives away.

Thinking about the above scenario, it is part of a larger story, and in fact, a necessary piece as it establishes the remoteness of the final destination. However, it seems like filler, a technique to give a sense of time and distance passing. It would occupy, when written, a paragraph or two. Surely, the reader would not nod off here, their books crashing down onto their heads in bed. Surely, they would! So, add a twist to your original thinking. Make the place even more desolate and dusty. Make the main character even more lost and desperate. He has no map. He sees, not a farmhouse, but a campfire. There, before the fire is an old woman-a Native American woman, who knows him by name and knows where he is going. Startled, he retreats to his car, only to tumble into a ravine, his leg injured. He gets to the road, where the old woman awaits. She drives him to his destination.

Now, with a twist in the original scenario, you have a better canvas to keep the reader engaged. Before you write it, you might add a pet dog or coyote. Perhaps, this woman speaks only Cherokee, an interesting challenge for dialog; or perhaps, not. In any event, twisting needs to be carefully considered. Your imagination should shine through, and twisting is the product of your imagination. The only caution is to avoid twisting to excess. You can tell when the twist becomes incredible. In fact, incredibility is a good way to disengage the reader, making twisting a technique bordering on art. With such genres as Adventure and Speculative Fiction, you have a wider boundary of incredibility. However, even in those genres, the art is presenting the big twists and making them feel like reality. In that respect, the second technique plays an important part-Resonance.

Resonating with the reader is important. Resonation is a musical term where the listener becomes tuned to the mood and tones the composer sets. A listener may not be able to name the difference between C major and E minor, but they certainly can feel it. For an author, words go beyond their intrinsic meaning for their sound and cultural value. Sound value, both the mode of the sentence and the sound of the word, frames the reader. Changing to the passive mode, for example, will lull the reader; while, the active should be stirring. Mix the two together and you can orchestrate frustration and confusion (with skill). Chose soft words for rain and snow-harsh ones for heat and pain. Sound, in this case, is very much like poetry without the cryptography. Dickens, for all his prose, was a fine poet within his prose, setting moods and resonating with his readership. Some of that resonance is lost today as we are not his readership and need a cultural guide to value the full weight of this resonance. That does not mean we should disregard the lesson taught.

Here is a use for all that researched material. As you introduce interesting facts and points, make them feel less absurd or less like classroom intrusions by resonating with the reader. Use a modern cultural reference or perhaps a cuss word. Introduce facts through dialog, where the reader can take up one of the character's roles and be included in the conversation. Invite the reader to the party. Engaging the reader-that is, telling the story, means resonating with the reader's knowledge base allowing your reader to participate as a collaborator. Give your reader credit for brains. Do not insult their intelligence with details that the reader can fill in as obvious extensions of the story's activity. If a character is on an airborne plane, there is no need to mention that they are flying. If they drink, there is no need to describe the glass (unless it is the murder weapon). You bring the resonance and the necessary skeleton. The reader will bring the bric a brac.

Another major point of resonating with the reader is your presentation point. Words can be presented in many styles within the same paragraph-from Austen to Hemmingway. These will resonate differently, but adds variety to the story. A brief sentence, such as "He wept" or "The door opened," one active, the other passive-both Hemmingwayesque, is very effective for capping or moving a story along. However, a passage such as "It is in the realm of human experience that men generally do not weep unless provoked in the extreme," or "Shaken by the thunderous waves below the terrace, the mighty door decided to release its unbidden secrets," are good examples of Austenian (and Dickensian) presentation. Both have their place, especially if we add a drop of humor or whimsy. Humor resonates well, and is very engaging.

Combining twist with resonance, we get image. Each reader has a wealth of experience that they bring to your work. If you tap into it, you resonate and engage. If you add to it, you engage relentlessly. Therefore, you should always be conscious of the images you create. Thinking of images brings the old yarn spinner to mind. You could write: "The moon shimmered over the water reflecting the tree-line to the mind's eye." Or, you could twist and resonate this into a memorable image. "Like Trojan horses against the night moon, the old oak forest lorded over the sleeping pond-a beach head of foreboding." Now that is an image that engages. It is also a building block for more images of a Homeric kind, allowing you to reference everything from ankles to doublets, from Helen to Iphigenia. It is also more interesting, and therefore more engaging. Spin the yarn to its credible limits.

There are local images, such as the one referenced above, which engages the reader as they travel your words; and there are global images, which are built on situations, great big twists and bigger than life resonance. These are the icons of your work. The reader will most probably not remember your words, but they will remember the big pictures - the icons. When we think of The Wizard of Oz, we think tornadoes in Kansas, Scarecrows, Flying Monkeys, and Emerald Cities. We do not think of L. Frank Baum's words. This is due to a famous movie. However, like the movies, the reader will remember iconic scenes. Therefore, to get a reader to say to another (potential) reader "My favorite part was when the cow fell out of the sky and landed on the pitchfork," you must provide both cow and pitchfork, although not necessarily the sky. Even if your genre is Slice of Life psychoanalytical, you must provide an iconic scene, the grand image, for remembrance. When we think of Anna Karenina, we think Woman throws herself under the wheels of oncoming train (with snow and all the trimmings).

Engage the reader's memory by seeding. Think of the story and its logistics. Introduce objects and people as seeds for later development. A spoon used to stir the tea, may very well be the twist that turns the story line. The chance meeting of a street bum might be an opportunity to have that street bum become the main character's sister's cousin. Perhaps he was an accountant fallen to hard times. Perhaps you will need an accountant to take inventory of the spoons. Like kneading bread, the more you use and reuse characters and objects, the more engaged your reader becomes. The reader begins to feel at home within your world, because they now have a vocabulary of things and people they trust. The more they trust them, the more your opportunity to twist through contradiction.

A vital part of seeding is structural. As you seed, you shore up the overall structure of your novel. You can seed by using scenario patterns or similar characters. Patterns are redundant behaviors in the plot, mirrors so to speak, that emphasize some part of your theme. At the same time, it hides major beams in your structure. A good example is from J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, which repeatedly has a departure image of a shining woman fading further and further away until disappearing. Tolkien also creates a pattern of danger and safety again and again, until the reader inherently believes that the characters will inevitably be in danger and, likewise, will be saved. Such patterning can be applied to similar characters, usually brothers or sisters, who extend each other's depth by dipping from the same gene pool. This can be seen with Dickens in Nicholas Nickleby with the brothers Cheryble; or, the variety Jane Austen creates with her family portraits. These patterns are part of seeding the work to engage the reader better.

Finally, and most important, movement is critical. Stay in the same place for too long and you risk disengaging the reader. Therefore, you need to know when to dwell and when to move. Move too quickly and the reader is puzzled-too slowly, they nod off. In both cases, disengaged. Remember, if you cease to tell the story, the story ends. The trick for serialized genres, for example, is to forecast story movement so the reader can be disengaged from the story at a point in time and reengage immediately a week later. You can move forward by moving backward, although flashback is somewhat cliché. Nonetheless, you can move backward in story telling by having the characters tell the story. You can manipulate speed by changing points of view, although changing from first person to third person can be disconcerting if not handled well. Dickens discovered that in Bleak House. However, if you need to control the speed of delivery, try this: In a third person novel where character A is always the point of view for the reader, begin a chapter where character B is now the focal point. This will change speed and tone (and will have your English teacher screaming bloody murder. As long as your editor does not commit suicide, you are safe).

Many authors have difficulty moving forward. Their plot points call for a character to go from point A to point B, through many interesting subpoints. They manage to waste a good deal of time and effort writing non-essentially, using valuable materials and disengaging the reader. The secret of moving forward is just that. Do it. Have the character at point A, with a notion that point B is the destination. Then, start a new paragraph at point B. Use a short phrase like, "It was raining at Point B." The reader adjusts to this immediately, and will not miss the mounds of walking, hiking, flying, and swimming (although swimming might be worth a subpoint-sharks and barracudas). They will be in the story and very much engaged. They do not need the infamous three asterisks (***).

In conclusion, a good story is one that fully engages the reader by twisting the elements into something worthwhile and memorable. You constantly tell the story, resonating with the reader's natural ability to simulate into the world you create. Give the reader interesting images and some icons, and they walk away satisfied. Hold this world together through seeding and patterning; and, above all, keep it moving. Tell a good story and your characters will write themselves and your material will team with themes from cover to cover.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Nearing the 300 mark on free circulation. 

Ed Patterson


----------



## Chris J

Hi Ed,

I saw this thread, and wanted to give you a thumbs up.  I found your book about three weeks ago, and it was the most awesome thing.  I was getting quite bewildered about what to do with my new book.  But thanks to you, it's now published on Kindle and very close to being published on CreateSpace.  I currently have the Kindle price set at $9.99, but have requested that it be dropped to $0.99. I did that Saturday, after reading back through your book and realizing what a blunder the price was.  So maybe they will have it down to "almost free" before too many days are up.  

Thank you very much, sir.


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Thank you Chris J. You've made my day. Life is many things, bit in the end you can only achievement one can ever boost is the number of people that you have touched.

Thanks
Edward C. Patterson


----------



## NIS333

EC:

My brother CS passed along a copy of your book to me, and I must say- it is the BEST publication on the topic I have seen in almost 2 years of research. I am still undecided as to how and if I will publish in print, but I plan to read your book 2 more times at least before I make any decisons!

Thank you so much!


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Wow! Thanks. Nice to know the Indie word is getting out there.

Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

This is my first single title to break the 500 sales mark.

Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

A snippet

"The First Step is Validation

Becoming an Indie Author means, you must take all the responsibility for yourself in print (or e-book). That means that all the things that a traditional publisher would give you if they weren't in such a precarious position to take on one in 80,000. The first of these responsibilities is a hard one. The HARDEST one. Is your work publishable? (Not marketable - that's a different question and has nothing to do with writing). Is your work good enough? Too many writers think that every word they write is a blessing from Mt. Olympus. In fact, most writers think they are perfection - first draft is magic, immaculate - eat your heart out Stephen King. However, the fact is, if you want your work published, you need to validate your talent. Not with your friends and family either, because they will tell you that you're the next J.K. Rowling - and they will never buy your books. (Rule of the Jungle - Friends and Family do not buy your books). What you need is the opinions of 1) perfect strangers - beta-readers, and 2) a professional editor, agent, or an annotated rejection from one of the Dead-Tree houses (a fond, but catty name that Indie Authors have coined for traditional publishers)."

Enjoy
Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Adele

Good timing - My first novel is with an editor right now and I am trying to educate myself in the area of publishing and marketing.  Just downloaded your book to my Kindle.

Adele


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Thanks Adele. Any help that you need aft the book you can always email me (it's in the book) with questions. Things change fast, you know.

Ed Patterson

Also received a nice 5-star review 9the 154th) of the work up on Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Still-Submitting-Traditional-Publisher-ebook/product-reviews/B001O9BERY/ref=cm_cr_dp_synop?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending#R1N8QOZNY4MQTP

Ed P


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

This book has received 17 FIVE star reviews. Glad everyone likes it.

Ed Patterson


----------



## Adele

Make that 18; great book!


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Thanks Adele. Really appreciate the review.

Come all take a peek at what KindleReader has said:

http://www.amazon.com/Still-Submitting-Traditional-Publisher-ebook/product-reviews/B001O9BERY/ref=cm_cr_dp_all_helpful?ie=UTF8&coliid=&showViewpoints=1&colid=&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

WoHoo. I received a 5-star review from Ralph Wahlstrom, the author of The Tao of Writing, quite a prestigious work.

To quote him: "If you're a writer; if you want to be a writer; if you know a writer, I recommend that you buy this book."

Of course, it's FREE at Smashwords.

Here's the link to the review on Amazon:

http://tinyurl.com/yk4ezn4

I'm quite pleased.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## NAmbrose

Ed, that is a fantastic review.  I'm really happy for you--it must feel great!  Here's to even more success in the future.

Nicolas


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Thank you Nicolas

Ed Patterson


----------



## sierra09

Congratulation, Ed! Both you and the book deserve it.


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Thanks Sierra.

Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

These are going like hot cakes. For FREE. Get 'em while I still have syrup. 110 pages of sheer entertaining information. 

Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Happy Holidays to my Kindleboard family.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## sierra09

Ed, I sat down in front of this wonderful jewel the other night and was hopping between the open screen with your book while following your advice on Kindle formatting. The way you wrote it makes it seem easy. I'll let you know what it looks like once I upload it to the DTP platform.   At least you use page breaks!


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Thank you Sierra

Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

The next FREE download of this book will push it over the 700 mark in circulation. This could be my lucky day.  

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Well folks, it passed the 700 download mark and remains in the top 10 books on editing in the Kidnle store. Come get your FREE copy.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Here's some advice from the book on Material Overshoot, which I wrote BEFORE I knew Betsy the Quilter:

"*Material Overshoot:*
Did some great research, did you? Are you an expert in sewing and have one of your characters quilt using every known stitch in the book over a five-page stretch? Remember that self-knowledge and researched knowledge are like an iceberg. Only the tip should be given to the reader with the knowledge (credibility) that there's a lot more beneath the surface. I am a sinologist, holding a Master's degree and doctoral credits in Chinese History. I often need to cut back on detail overload for my reader's sake. The little I impart is enough to establish the elements needed for a good story, and yet there's a lot more that stands behind it. In my novel The Dragon's Pool, I needed to describe a Tuscan feast. Therefore, I read a cookbook and spent hours preparing dishes, sniffing the aromas and noting the tastes. It took a month. All that for what amounted to (and correctly so) two paragraphs in the novel. However, my readers are there, at the table, but are not distracted by the food. The feast enhances the characters as they reflect on the events and, in this case, become organic to the scene. Be an expert. Write from the character's point of view. When you go overboard, tag it for cutting, and paste it in Wikipedia."

Now I know that Betsy will show up with one of her hats, but it doesn't matter, because I'm the proud owner of THE CORMORANT Quilt, which hangs in my Living Room (my _ke-ting_) and is one of my prized possessions. 

Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Here's a nice Happy Holiday gift for everyone.

Ed Patterson


----------



## matte633

Hey man, how long will it be free?  I'm on vacation and can't download it until I get back the day after Christmas.


----------



## Ann in Arlington

(psst. . . .don't tell Ed I told you. . . .but this title is pretty much always free.    )


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Actually, it's only free through Smashwords, but even then I sell many. many at $ .99 and even some at $ 7.50 (had one of those the other day). But whether you pay for it or not, it is always . . . a gift.   

Here's how is fares on Amazon as a sold book:

Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews) 
17 Reviews 
5 star:    (15) 
4 star:    (2) 
3 star:    (0) 
2 star:    (0) 
1 star:    (0) 

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #31,782 in Kindle Store 
Popular in these categories:

#8 in  Kindle Store > Kindle Books > Reference > Writing > Editing 
#29 in  Kindle Store > Kindle Books > Reference > Publishing & Books 
#54 in  Kindle Store > Kindle Books > Reference > Writing > Writing Skills 

These ranks are only given on sold books, so there's an acive price on this one and business ain't bad with it. t is also my irst book to go over 800 in circulation and will probably be the first to cross the 1,000 mark. (No Irish Need Apply is a distnt 480).

Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Matte

Not to worry, Even if I should restore the price across the board, I'll make sure you get a free copy, come hell or High Smashwords.

Have a safe vacation. I'm in NJ still digging out hoping that my next shovl full doesn't land me in the ER or the OR.

Ed Patterson


----------



## Ann in Arlington

Where are you in NJ. . .with your dad I presume. . .did you ever say?  IF so I don't remember.


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Yep, I beat the storm on Saturday morning to North Brunswick. But of course, it's zonk us in here at the apartment. I don;t believe Allentown PA was hit too badly, but we had 18 inches. I'm here for the week, through Christmas , having he week off and go back on Sunday. (Getting the last bit of editing on The Nan Tu done - using Katy the Kindleschpreche, now that Peg of the red Pencil is finished). My brother is going to bring Dad out to Allentown on New Year's eve and I'm hosting Dad out there for a few days. Going to take him to the new casino and have reservations at Emeril's.

Ed Patterson


----------



## Elliot

Thanks, I read it and it is great stuff. Every new person on this forum should download it.  Great job!


----------



## Rie142

Thank you for this.


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Thank you Elliot and Rie142. It is my pleasure.

Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Well I followed all the steps in my book the other day and have launched my 14th published work without a hitch. Stay tuned for that. Meanwhile, download this FREEBIE and get your own work up on the Kindle and out on CreateSpace. In the words of Hillel:  If Not now . . . when? Don;t dilly-dally.

Ed Patterson


----------



## matte633

Just downloaded your book.  Thanks for making it free


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Your welcome. Enjoy.

Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

I believe this book will be the first on of my children to have 1,000 in circulation. Considering that Indie books general circulate to about 100-150, I feel good that veryone likes it.

Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

We did go over one thousand copies in circulation of this little book. Although FREE helps with the downloads, people still buy it too (and in paper).  

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Jump start your publishing project with a uick and easy read.

Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

An Excerpt from *Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditional Publisher? * was featured in last weeend's The Indie Spotlight

I also receive another glowing five star review on Amazon entitled "Required Reader for All Authors."

http://www.theindiespotlight.com

Ed Patterson


----------



## ReeseReed

Added it to my wishlist   I'm about halfway there in saving for my kindle, so hopefully I can get it soon!


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Thanks ReeseReed:

This little book has just sailed over the 1,200 download mark.
Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

In addition to the instructions and advice on creating books for the Kindle and for POD at CreateSpace, this litle work has a whole section on revising a novel.

Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Just got some nice praise for the book from K. Raven Rozier (on Amazon). BTW, this book had 25 five star reviews and 2 four star reviews. I'm overwhlemed by the reception.

Thanks all,
Ed Patterson


----------



## Adele

Congratulations!!


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Thank you, Adele.

Ed Patterson


----------



## J Dean

Goofy question, Ed: was this book easier or harder for you to write than a fiction piece?


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

This book was never written. WHAT! Well, it was a challenge. I decided to start a blog on Blogit.com called _Are you Still Submitting your Work to Dead Tree Houses?_ Each day I outlined my experiences with the publishing processes. At the end, I told the other bloggers that I would publish my findings using the steps outlined in the blog and give them the results. Of course, the blog wasn't big enough to make a "book," so I turned to my other blogs which dealt on writing tips and revisions. Together they made a 110 page book. So at Christmas of 2008 without my regular editor available, I launched the little "give back" challenge and within a month it sold a few copies and has 2 great reviews. I quickly got it to my editor and together I relaunched it (without all the typos and bogschmeer).

It began to sell well and I dropped the price to $ .99. Soon I was getting email requests for help, and I was also answering thread requests with "send me an email and I'll send you a book, _gratis_." Next thing I knew the 5-star reviews came rolling in. I believe in marketing with lost leaders, but this one was for authors, not for "readers," so I didn't think it could serve that purpose. Well, now I find out (and why not) that inside every devoted reader is an author fighting to get out. I decided to offer the work on Smashwords for free and soon the select button was in full swing. What surprises me is how many readers when given the choice between FREE and $ .99, will pay for it. Now 1,200 copies later and 27 reviews (25 5 - stars), RUS (Are You Submitting . . .) is my best seller. I even got a 5-star review from the author of The Tao of Writing.

Was it harder to write? No. It was different to write and a source of satisfaction, because my motive was not to sell a book, or even engage readers. It was to give back information from my experienece to fellow authors and I selected a blog do to it in, but as it turned out, the creative leap to mass distribute it has given me a challenge to live up to the knowlege that I impart. Now I have a responsibility to authors as well as to fiction readers. 

Hope that answers the question. Can anyone remember the orginal question?

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Over 1,300 copies downloaded.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

I am pleased with the response to this book - not only for the downloads, but for the 20 5-star reviews.

Ed Patterson

Still FREE at Smashwords http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/316


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Peppering the Indie world of authoring daily. Hopefully making the world different by making some lives a bit easier. Get them books out there to readers. They're hungry.

Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

How can you manage to get over 1,500 copies of your book in the hands of readers? Simple! Don't try. When I wrote this little book on publishing to the Kindle and CreateSpace POD, I did so as a Blog on Blogit and decided to practice what the blog preached - publish. It was a bit thin, so I added articles that I had written over time which might also prove interesting. I cobbled together a cover and during Christmas of 2008, launched it quietly. Then, I forgot about it, until the reviews started coming in and I realized that the book was actually helping authors - my colleagues in a community that helps me day in and day out. So, I started giving out copies of the book to anyone who wanted it. Seemed fair enough. Giving back, and all that. Now fifteen months later, this little 120 page . . . pamphlet?? is still drawing an audience. So, if you haven't picked up you copy, you can either buy it (some do) or hop over to Smashwords and get yourself a gift.

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/316
also in paperback which people also buy. And why not?

and if you're in the giving spirit yourself and an author, come join Operation eBook Drop and pass your talents in the form of thanks to our men and women in the armed forces. If you're interested, drop me an email at [email protected] - and if you're one of the 365 authors currently participating, I thank you with a passion that you can scarcely imagine.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Hee's what you get in Are You Still . . . etc. etc. etc. (my little free book)

*Table of Contents

Part I
Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditional Publisher?

Are You Self-Published, an Indie Author, or just waitin' around?
The First Step is Validation
We Know Why You Write - So Why Do You want to be Published?
Editting - Grandma and Spieling Countt
Publishing Trends - Sunrise and Sunset
Deciding What to Publish
Just in Time, I found you Just in Time
Manuscript Preparation - One
Adding Pages for Kindle Manuscript Preparation
Launching Your Masterpiece on the Kindle (Start Your Engines)
Launching Your Manuscript on the Kindle Let's Do It
Pieces of Eight - The Amazon Kindle Page (Kindle)
Preparing Your Manuscript for CreateSpace
Lulu's Book Wizard
Forwad March into Print - CreateSpace
The Short Waiting Game
Promoting Yourself on the Amazon Discussion Groups
Working the On-line Streets
Your Book and the Public
It's a Wrap

Part II
Articles on Writing

Writing Good Stories

The Novelization process

Revision vs. Re-vision

Approaching Revisions
Rethinking and Revising Imagery in Novels
Revising the Horror of Stage Directions
Maintaining and Violating POV in a Novel
Logic vs. Illogic - Hanging the Lanterns
How to End a Novel
Sound and Sense - Shelley vs. Dickens*​


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Still flying off the shelf. Do you have your copy yet?

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

1,445 copies in circulation, Whoopee!

Ed Patterson


----------



## jesscscott

Edward C. Patterson said:


> New review - Five stars (not on Amazon.com)
> 
> Review by: Jess C Scott on Jul. 16, 2009 :
> I didn't really know of the term "Indie Author", until reading this (I always thought it meant exactly the same thing as being "Self-Published", lol).
> 
> I've already gone through the whole PDF uploading onto CreateSpace (for print), as well as uploading a file onto Kindle -- if you're a newbie to all that kind of stuff, Mr. Patterson will take you through the steps in an engaging, lively writing style.
> 
> I, personally, shall have to work on the networking part [including getting onto author/reader forums, and getting some purchases/rankings/reviews going on Amazon (eventually!)].
> 
> Smashwords https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/316
> 
> Thank you Jess
> Edward C. Patterson


You're most welcome! Yeah I'm here almost a year late -_-...and congratulations on the 1,445 copies in circulation!


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Thanks Jesse:

Your response pushed me to 1,450.    Keep on goin' - goin' - goin'

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## jesscscott

No problemo. I'll post a link to it once I re-organize my blog/website (next month, maybe). Currently drowning in my remaining assignments for the Spring 2010 semester...


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Well a week later and we 're at 1,508.

Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

These are flying off the shelf. Over 1,800 in circulation now.

Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Over 25 five star reviews. And I didn;t even know was going to write this little thing.

Ed Patterson


----------



## Sharlow

OK I've downloaded it, and when I get the chance I'll take a look at it. Thanks ED!


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Thanks Sharlow

Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Wow, if this book was gas, I'd be driving to China.

Ed Patterson


----------



## David McAfee

I just downloaded this. Looking forward to reading it.


----------



## daveconifer

David McAfee said:


> I just downloaded this. Looking forward to reading it.


Believe it or not, this is a great read. Ed's personality comes shining through. I never thought I'd enjoy reading a manual but I loved this one...


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Thank you Dave and thank you David.  

Ed Patterson


----------



## David McAfee

Started on this last night. So far, very good info. I didn't realize CreateSpace let you do everything for free. I went with Lightning Source for my print books, and if you click the link you'll see the problem I've been having. "Temporarily Out Of Stock." Doggone it, it's POD, how can it be out of stock?


----------



## Victorine

I started reading this last night too.  I think I'll be recommending it to several people.  Great info.

You're awesome, Ed.

Vicki


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

David:

You won't have that problems with CreateSpace, as the only time your book goes temporarily out of stock is when you're making changes to it and hold up production yourself. Otherwise, Amazon always carries the book In Stock.

Thanks for your comments and

Victorine. I'm glad you're enjoying it. We're authors and I felt that any How-to book from an author to an author (or would be author) should read like a novel.

Ed Patterson


----------



## JimC1946

Folks, if you're even thinking about self-publishing, Ed's book is the first book you should get. If I had read it before I published my book, it would have saved most of the grief and gnashing of teeth that I went through.

JimC


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Sir, you are most kind and I thank you.

Ed Patterson
PS: Oh, those dental bills.


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Well, we went over the 2,000 mark.

Ed Patterson


----------



## keithdbz

I downloaded it, look forward to checking it out.


----------



## Joe Chiappetta

I love your attitude. I have been self-publishing since the late 1980s... before the Internet


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Thank you, Joey Chips.

Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Publishing? I feel roud enough to say that after 26 five star reviews and 2,075 copies in circulation and swamps of emails from grateful authors, that this book certainly changed _my_ life.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Lean how to publish and laugh at the same time. Not all exeriences need to be grim.

Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Eventhough I am still offering this one for g\free, I get more paid sales now than freebies (and even a few paperbacks monthly). This one has held in the top 4 rank books in writing---> editing for the last few months, dosie-doeing with J Konrath's book.  

Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Still in the top ranks of books on editing for the Kindle and nearing 2,300 copies in circulation.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Unfortunately, I had to discontinue the FREE edition at Smashwords because of my contractual arrangements with Amazon (not the new 70% royalty business . . . I didn;t go with that, but it violated the old and for me, current contract). However, anyone still wanting it for free, PM me and I'll send you a coupon. I will probably send a coupon out this month for Kindleboarders (coupon discounts are still within the contract parameters) and I set the sample download at Smashwords to 50%, which covers most of the step-by-step stuff.

Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Still in the top ranks for Kindle and POD editing. 

Ed Patterson


----------



## DonnaFaz

Ed, I plugged your book in a phone interview I had and hoped you and your book would make it into the finished piece. Both did! Check out my interview at www.kindlerama.com. Chris, the editor, even linked to your book. Woo-hoo!

~Donna~


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Thanks Donna.

Great interview and thanks for the plg and the link.

Ed Patterson


----------



## Steven L. Hawk

I've thanked you a couple of times already, but a third won't hurt! Thanks for the great book. It got me through the publishing process in just a few short months.

As of today, my new book, _Peace Warrior_ is available on Amazon for Kindle https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003UHVYQE and on Smashwords https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/18588.

I actually sold 6 copies today!


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Yhanks again, Steven.

Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

2,388 copies in circulation and thriving. 27 5-star reviews.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## michaelbalkind

2,388 copies in circulation and thriving. 27 5-star reviews. Congrats ED! That's awesome!
Hope you are well.


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Thanks Micahel:

I didn't know you had a new one out and that Sudden Death was on the Kindle. I solved that (ca-ching) on both counts.  

Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Selling like crazy on Kobobook too.

Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

This little ditty is reaching the 2,500 mark in circulation.

Thanks all

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Have  Questions about eBook and POD pubishing? This is the Book for you.

Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Still goinng great guns hitting the 2,500 mark this morning. 

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Here's a secret. Since I needed to charge for this book on Smashwords to preserve my contract with Anazon, I have set the download sample to 50%, which allows you to download most of the step by step essentials from the first half of the book. If you want my tips on revising the novel, then pony up the buck and get them.  

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Well, we've blasted out over the 2,500 copies of this little help-mate in circulation.

Ed Patterson


----------



## Guest

This is a valuble read if you are considering taking the next step from epubbing to the real deal.....


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Glad it helped.  

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

And Ed Patterson's best selling book, with over 2,600 copies in hands of the interested. 

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

What have 2,200 authors or prospective authors have? This book.  

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

I'm thinking of another non-fiction work (percolatin' - percolatin')  

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Nearly 2,800 copies in circulation. Come tap my experience as a pioneer in eBook publing and POD. After 16 books out there, I can tell you a thing or three.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

*Kindleboard Profile for Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditional Publisher?*


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

This book also includes tips on revising your novel, as only I can tell you.  

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Thought I'd let all know, I'm still around and will be back at my normal level by Wedensday.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Wanna make a print version on CreateSpace? This is the book.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Wow! I'm in a countdown for 3,000 copies of this one out there.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Here's a sample chapter from this 5-star self-help book.
*
Publishing Trends - Sunrise and Sunset*

You might think I will now trash the traditional publishing world and sing the praises of Print-on-Demand (POD), but I shall not. This is a brief entry to say that authors misunderstand the current publishing processes and trends. They think they need query letters, agents, publicists and a host of rejection letters before they can publish a book. It ain't so. Because Traditional Publishers (Dead-Tree Houses) have dicey profit margins and must worry about inventory, blockbusters, mid-range titles, returns, discounts and other, non-writing concerns, they are selective in their choice of authors. That selection has little to do with quality and more to do with marketing. If your book is lousy, it will still be a marketing decision that floats you a rejection. If your book is one that people will be reading one hundred years from now, your rejection is still based on all those marketing considerations. A thing of the moment. Publishers are as nervous as cats on a griddle, and deservedly so, because they lack basic market projection skills. (I'm a former Director of Marketing at a Fortune 500 company and smell this fur on the griddle).

With Print-on-Demand (POD), certain concerns are eliminated, or rather transferred to the author. The process remains the same, except that you query yourself, be your own agent, publicist, editor, and send yourself the rejection, hardy har har. Transfer of process is the keystone. Marketing the book is one transferred task. However, as any traditionlly published author will tell you, their publishing house does little in the way of marketing and will turn to you for your marketing plan anyway. "It's your book - we printed it, now you sell it." 
However, some things are truly eliminated, like inventory control, returns, and bookshelf worries (blockbuster and mid-range). The POD house takes your file (generally, as is - the importance of quality and editing is your responsibility; and also layout and cover art), they set it up, send you proofs, and then funnel it to a distribution point where it is printed on-demand for a customer. The same is true of e-books, but in the case of electronic delivery, there are price breaks to the customer and cost breaks for the author. We'll address e-books at length, because there are places where the "e-book doth languish" and other places where they sell like hotcakes (KINDLE, for instance - and delivered WiFi via whispernet).

What you need to know here is that Traditional is NOT bad, but since the publisher accepts the liability, they are in control, not you. With POD, you are in control (and responsible or not. If not, you have one damn big liability, which is your fault - go stand in the corner). In both cases, you have no up front costs, and in both you are contracted for royalties. However, with POD, generally you do not relinquish your rights, except for the use of the ISBN, which belongs to the imprint (unless you buy your own).
The BIG warning label here is: beware the old fashion vanity houses turned POD. "SEE YOUR NOVEL IN PRINT." In addition, be wary of POD houses that offer you marketing services to publish your book for a few hundred bucks. Some, like BookSurge, iUniverse and Lulu are legitimate and do a fair to good marketing job, it's according to how lazy you are and how much you are not willing to do yourself. In most cases, you can accomplish these tasks for FREE or for minimal cost. However, beware such infamous POD publishers that charge you like a vanity publisher would, offer you editing services they do not fulfill and marketing services that permanently damage your book's chances in the marketplace.

In short, seeking POD solutions should be a serious pursuit. However, look to the NO COST houses first and consider e-book not as an alternative, but as a tandem publishing pursuit. You want readers, after all. Modern readers read in many formats. Moreover, keep in mind that the process hasn't changed. You are picking up the ball for many. However, you are lifting that ball past the marketing barriers that publishing houses are forced to erect to protect their investments and profit line. As an Indie Author, your profit is 100% beyond your first sale, so you can dash or crash. It's your choice.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

I am about to begin work on my second non-fiction work,_* A Reader's Guide to Author's Jargon and Other Ravings from the Blogosphere*_, which will include the irascible gossip column, _Ask Miss Chatty_.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

This book was pblished on a whim during Christmas week of 2008. Little did I know that over 3,000 copies would be sold and it would achieve over 25 five star reviews on Amazon. Go figure.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Here's to a Happy Holiday for all your Publishing endevours.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Still only $ .99, and on Smashwords you can get an 80% sample.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

I'm as pleased a punch with reader response to this one. I mean, I am trying to be helpful, but also entertaining. I guess people like that combo.  

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## brianspaeth

This thread confused me but I am trying to learn. lol


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Here's the opening paragraph to *Are You Still Submittin Your Work to a Traditional Publisher*:

Becoming an Indie Author means, you must take all the responsibility for yourself in print (or e-book). That means that all the things that a traditional publisher would give you if they weren't in such a precarious position to take on one in 80,000. The first of these responsibilities is a hard one. The HARDEST one. Is your work publishable? (Not marketable - that's a different question and has nothing to do with writing). Is your work good enough? Too many writers think that every word they write is a blessing from Mt. Olympus. In fact, most writers think they are perfection - first draft is magic, immaculate - eat your heart out Stephen King. However, the fact is, if you want your work published, you need to validate your talent. Not with your friends and family either, because they will tell you're the next J.K. Rowling - and they will never buy your books. (Rule of the Jungle - Friends and Family do not buy your books). What you need is the opinions of 1) perfect strangers - beta-readers, and 2) a professional editor, agent, or an annotated rejection from one of the Dead-Tree houses (a fond, but catty name that Indie Authors have coined for traditional publishers).

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Dana Taylor

I'm turning into a true Edward C. Patterson fan. I downloaded this and am learning a lot and enjoying the droll humor.

Thanks!

Dana Taylor


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

This work started as a wee meotring project from by blog. Little did I know it would sell more books than any of my others.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## *DrDLN* (dr.s.dhillon)

Thanks Ed. I think more than anything else, it is the recognition and promotion differences between self and big name publishing.

The books accepted by big name publishers are supposedly good and they spend money on promotion. These are the books that end up on best seller lists.

I have mostly published royalty based books in hard copy. But now I have gotten into eBooks. The concept is spreading like wild fire and thanks to e-readers like kindle, nook, sony and so on. This is the future, IMHO.

I tried quite a while back for ebooks for downloading. But no body wants to read books sitting on a computer. The e-readers have solved this problem.

Most of my books are self-help and because every body wants to be healthy and happy. The concept works very well for me.

Wish you all the very best in 2011.

drdln-Nonfiction


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Thanks and I'm always glad to help

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## DonnaBurgess

I'm glad I happened upon this post. Just snagged a copy. Cheers!


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

winniethepoe said:


> I'm glad I happened upon this post. Just snagged a copy. Cheers!


Thank you. Hope it's useful or at least smile provoking. 

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

The second half of this work addresses (in a practical and humours many) many of the issues authors face with revisions.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

An excerpt from Are You Still . . .

First - Press Releases.

Many places on the web will craft and distribute your press release . . . for a fee - sometimes mucho buckos $$. So why not use a free Press Release site? Pundits will tell you that free Press Release sites are a waste of time. However, all Press Release sites can be a waste of time. Press Releases are best when you direct them. That is, once they are published, you use them in your emailing (you should have a list of contacts, prospective readers, readers, even the infamous friends and family list). Include a link to the Press Release. It has impact on those who know you. (Wow, lookee, lookee. Eddie P has a Press release out about his book. I'm impressed). In addition, the Press Release is distributed and seen, although I will admit I cannot attribute one sale or a new reader to a Press Release. It's window dressing, but it's professional window dressing and it's expected. No Press Release and a published book is not legitimate in some literary circles. So do it for Free at PRLog - http://www.prlog.org/ , a free release site that's user friendly. You already have the makings of a Press Release - blurb, ISBN, links, description, your biography and perhaps an advance review if you're publishing something that has been beta tested. Create a headline that makes your book release a media event. "First time in Public and Anywhere, Vampire's Suck Radioactive Isotopes and Turn Green." Have fun with the release and . . . do two of them. Release your first one two weeks before the book comes out. The second release a day or two after the book is available for purchase. You might do a third or fourth when you get a superlative review, or have an event surrounding the book. For example, I did the world's first on-line book signing and reading. Big news. Press Release and a nice one.

Link the Press Release to your website and to library sharing sites. Print copies and use them at book signings, if you still do the traditional flat-footed "Consignments-R-Us" deal. Every little bit helps. Just don't shrug it off. It's important. Heck, when my apartment complex wanted to include me in their newsletter, I gave them a link to the Press Release of The Jade Owl and I had a handsome article in every neighbor's door, complete with biography and cover picture.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

I wrote this book on a whim and now, 4,000 sales later . . . 


Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Bob Mayer

A very good question.  I've been in traditional publishing for 20 years with 45 books out.  Been through most of the "Big 6".  I started bringing backlist that I had rights to out last year in eBook and POD but didn't really promote or push it.  Just did what I actually complain about the big publishers do:  throw books out there and hope they stick.
They don't.
I've got books that were NY Times bestsellers in print I threw out there in eBook that went nowhere.  I've finally seen the light by reading posts like this and other authors who've had success and realized I'm starting over in a new arena.  
Doing the math is an eye-opener.
So; to answer the question.  I've got a great, top-notch NY Agent.  I've got two completed manuscripts on my computer that I'm very proud of.  But will I send them to my agent, wait six months, then if get an offer, wait at least another year to get in print, then have them thrown out there like my previous books?  Arghhh!
Also, another key factor is one book is historical fiction about the Civil War-- the 150th Anniversary is coming on 12 April.  I could have that manuscript copy-edited and uploaded for a launch on that date.  That's not even conceivable for a traditional publisher.  So it looks like Duty: West Point to the Civil War might just take the non-traditional route soon.


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Nice answer. First time I've had an answer to my rhetorical book title's question.


----------



## DDScott

Just bought your book, Edward...and to answer your title's question...the answer is "no freakin' way" for this chick!!!

I've been agented --- by one of the best in the biz --- for almost four years now! And until I had a big 'ole "talk" with my agent last July (2010) and convinced her we were going the Indie Epub route with my books...I'd been beyond suffering the horrors of the traditional publishing world.

In fact, I was sooo "horrified", I wrote a book about it - *MUSE THERAPY: UNLEASHING YOUR INNER SYBIL  * - which has hit the #1 Amazon Bestselling Lists for Writing Books five times now I believe.

Anyhoo...to simplify my rather traumatizing journey, I usually never say never, but I'm real tempted to say I'm at least considering NEVER going the traditional publishing route. At least not if they continue with their same BS. And maybe that sounds harsh...but it's the truth.

P.S. I was also so traumatized, I started a grog about my experiences with several other authors, all of us having chosen different writing-for-publication paths...and we're sharing, cussing and discussing all our real sales numbers over at *The WG2E - The Writers Guide To Epublishing*.


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

You didn;t buy 30 copies did you? (I know you couldn't unless you gifted them) Because I sold 30 copies of it in an hour and a half, and that's unprecedented for me and I'm stunned.  

And Thanks for buying just one.  

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Dana Taylor

Hi--

Maybe you can thank Miss Dana for some of those sales. I keep getting asked questions about e-pubbing and I just tell them to read your book. It's the best 99 cents they'll ever invest!

Dana Taylor


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Thank you Dana. X 50.


----------



## DDScott

Edward C. Patterson said:


> You didn;t buy 30 copies did you? (I know you couldn't unless you gifted them) Because I sold 30 copies of it in an hour and a half, and that's unprecedented for me and I'm stunned.
> 
> And Thanks for buying just one.
> 
> Edward C. Patterson


LOL! I did not buy 30 copies, Edward...but, like Dana, I always, always let all my cyber communities know what I've just discovered and what I'm buying...and you sooo made my posts over the weekend, and in fact, I linked to this thread again today on my *WG2E* site.

Congrats on the fabulous sales! I'm looking forward to reading your book!!!


----------



## JimC1946

If I had had Ed's book before I published my book in 2009, it would have saved many days of weeping, wailing, and gnashing my teeth.

Seriously, if you don't have it, get it now.


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

The second half of this work is devoted on how to revise your manuscript. Of course, it's in my jusual jocular style.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Still selling and serving the Indie community. Get your's today.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

This is a serious subject - so let's take it light and crispy.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Among other stuff, this book contains promotional hints.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Pearson Moore

Edward,

I like your description of the process of novelisation, but I also like your open-ended style in describing the elements of writing.  You seem to recognise that the process is going to vary from one person to another, probably from one genre to another.  I think what I like most about the way you share ideas is that I begin to think about the elements I have found useful to my writing.  You get me thinking, and that has to be a very good thing.  Thank you for posting this!

All the best,

Pearson Moore


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Just received another good review on this how-to guide (I believe its my 30th). 

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

I have 28 reviews on Amazon for this little title, mostly 5-sars, BUT I also have 13 more n Smashwords. http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/316

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Just got 3 new reviews on this one  2 5 star and 1 four star, bringing my total to 42 reviews (35 5-star and 7 4-star, nothing below that) on Amazon and Smashwords. But who's counting?  

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Today's my Dad's birthday. He would have been 86 and I miss him so. Her's for you Dad - I've sold over 4,000 copies of this little guide book to publishing. It does you proud.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

So many of the questions asked in the writer's cafe are answered in this book.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Having launched my first Kindle book on November 17th, 2007 and now with seventeen books up there and POD paperbacks distributed through CreateSpace/Amazon, I felt I had something to say about Indie publishing, the process and authoring techniques. Of course, I would say it with my one particular brand of home-spun city humor. I guess that's been the key to the success of _*Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditional Publisher?, * _ which has reached the hands of thousands of readers (four thousand to date) and feedback has been overwhelmingly good. Of course, much of the work embeds my thoughts for the newbie, but I suspect veteran authors may find a nugget or two worth the wee cost.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Still a big seller.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## *DrDLN* (dr.s.dhillon)

I have published with traditional publishers before I recently published with amazon and BN. The time it takes and efforts to get published is frustrating with traditional publishing. So one can almost write another book by using those same efforts.  Will I still submit to traditional publishers? Perhaps...


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

*DrDln* (dr.s.dhillon) said:


> I have published with traditional publishers before I recently published with amazon and BN. The time it takes and efforts to get published is frustrating with traditional publishing. So one can almost write another book by using those same efforts. Will I still submit to traditional publishers? Perhaps...


DrDin:

Did you find my book helpful?

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## LeonardDHilleyII

Great book!  Great job!  The information you're offering is priceless (no pun intended).

Best,

Leonard


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Thanks, Leonard.

Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

What are you waitin' for? Get that manuscript finished and up on Amazon.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

I'm a veteran of the Kindle and CreateSpace an share with you my experiences in this book. My 2 cents worth (your 99 cents worth  )

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Here's one of Publishing's revolutionary handbooks . . . or not. Let it be a spark.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

It's a little book, but I try to engage you and get you on the right track. The rest is p to you.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## davidhburton

LOL! I wasn't paying close enough attention and read this as:

Are You Still Submitting to a Traditional Publisher? - Come Get Spanked


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

LOL. Well let the spankings begin.

Ed Patterson


----------



## Betsy the Quilter

*Betsy looks sternly at Ed and David*

No spanking...


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Ah! Shucks.


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

This title is FREE for the month of July at Smashwords - http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/316

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Still on sale.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Week 3 of the Smashword summer FREE sale.

http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/EdwardCPatterson for list of books. For this one use code SSWSF for FREE copy.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Coming into the stretch on the Smashword's Sale on this book (FREE).

http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/EdwardCPatterson for list of books. For this one use code SSWSF for FREE copy.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Long excerpt
-----------------------------
Writing Good Stories

What constitutes a good story? The debate rages. Is it a great plot, or interesting material? Is it climbing inside the reader's head with well-crafted character studies and globe stopping themes? As any published author can tell you, if you have a good subject, a well-defined theme, a detailed plot and a battery of super-characters, you will probably write the great snooze work of the century. Well, perhaps not, if you know what to do with most of these elements, which in most cases is to trim, muddle, blur and curtail them. As J. R. R. Tolkien said in his introduction to The Lord of the Rings, "This story grew in the telling." That is how good stories are born-in the telling.

If you now are shaken because you have researched materials for five years and have enough elemental surplus to populate seven novels, be of good cheer. All you need to make it work is to tell a story. Remember, you have material, characters, plots, images, and dare we say, themes. But, in the long run, unless your readers are bored literature professors who are looking for thematic prevalence, all you need to do is tell your story and, most important, engage the reader.

Engaging the reader is the most important key to commercial and literary success. If you fail to engage your readers, you lose your readers. With no readers, you have library shelf dust. Is this pandering? No. You need to know who your potential readers are and, especially in genre fiction, if it is a specific readership slice that requires particular treatment. For example, if you are writing in the Slice of Life genre, you know your reader needs some emotional impetus; while, a mystery/adventure needs puzzles and solutions. However, no genre is so grounded in itself to exclude a variety of story telling techniques to the exclusion of a more general readership. It is true that if your subject material is Bloodletting in Medieval Malta, you may exclude a portion of potential readership. However, story telling begins after the reader is seized between the covers, not before. It begins on page one, and must engage, engage and continue to engage until the end.

There are five sound story-telling techniques discussed here, which can be used to engage the reader in most genres. There are others to be sure. These are shared with the buoyancy that, hard and fast rules make for grammar, not style. These five techniques are easy to remember, especially when reviewing your work prior to an editor's touch. Remember that your editor will shine you up more if you have applied as much polish as you can before submission. These techniques are: twist, resonate, image, seed and move.

Twisting is something we generally lose when we gain clear sight of characters, plots and themes. We may have planned a great plot twist, but we fail to remember that twisting is an old story telling technique, a technique key to every campfire since stories have been told. From the tall tales of Homer to the great yarns of Mark Twain, twisting the story is the great differentiation. Such twists, of course, need to be carefully considered. In fact, twisting may be an exercise you engage before you write. You do not need to bother the reader with all your twists, only the results-the engaging results. Here is an example.

You have a scene set on a lonely road. A main character drives up and stops, obviously lost. He walks about his car looking at a map. Suddenly, he sees a farmhouse nearby. Driving to it, he knocks on the door to ask for directions. An old man emerges and gives him a glass of water and advice. The main character thanks him and drives away.

Thinking about the above scenario, it is part of a larger story, and in fact, a necessary piece as it establishes the remoteness of the final destination. However, it seems like filler, a technique to give a sense of time and distance passing. It would occupy, when written, a paragraph or two. Surely, the reader would not nod off here, their books crashing down onto their heads in bed. Surely, they would! So, add a twist to your original thinking. Make the place even more desolate and dusty. Make the main character even more lost and desperate. He has no map. He sees, not a farmhouse, but a campfire. There, before the fire is an old woman-a Native American woman, who knows him by name and knows where he is going. Startled, he retreats to his car, only to tumble into a ravine, his leg injured. He gets to the road, where the old woman awaits. She drives him to his destination.

Now, with a twist in the original scenario, you have a better canvas to keep the reader engaged. Before you write it, you might add a pet dog or coyote. Perhaps, this woman speaks only Cherokee, an interesting challenge for dialog; or perhaps, not. In any event, twisting needs to be carefully considered. Your imagination should shine through, and twisting is the product of your imagination. The only caution is to avoid twisting to excess. You can tell when the twist becomes incredible. In fact, incredibility is a good way to disengage the reader, making twisting a technique bordering on art. With such genres as Adventure and Speculative Fiction, you have a wider boundary of incredibility. However, even in those genres, the art is presenting the big twists and making them feel like reality. In that respect, the second technique plays an important part-Resonance.

Resonating with the reader is important. Resonation is a musical term where the listener becomes tuned to the mood and tones the composer sets. A listener may not be able to name the difference between C major and E minor, but they certainly can feel it. For an author, words go beyond their intrinsic meaning for their sound and cultural value. Sound value, both the mode of the sentence and the sound of the word, frames the reader. Changing to the passive mode, for example, will lull the reader; while, the active should be stirring. Mix the two together and you can orchestrate frustration and confusion (with skill). Choose soft words for rain and snow-harsh ones for heat and pain. Sound, in this case, is very much like poetry without the cryptography. Dickens, for all his prose, was a fine poet within his prose, setting moods and resonating with his readership. Some of that resonance is lost today as we are not his readership and need a cultural guide to value the full weight of this resonance. That does not mean we should disregard the lesson taught.

Here is a use for all that researched material. As you introduce interesting facts and points, make them feel less absurd or less like classroom intrusions by resonating with the reader. Use a modern cultural reference or perhaps a cuss word. Introduce facts through dialog, where the reader can take up one of the character's roles and be included in the conversation. Invite the reader to the party. Engaging the reader-that is, telling the story, means resonating with the reader's knowledge base allowing your reader to participate as a collaborator. Give your reader credit for brains. Do not insult their intelligence with details that the reader can fill in as obvious extensions of the story's activity. If a character is on an airborne plane, there is no need to mention that they are flying. If they drink, there is no need to describe the glass (unless it is the murder weapon). You bring the resonance and the necessary skeleton. The reader will bring the bric a brac.

Another major point of resonating with the reader is your presentation point. Words can be presented in many styles within the same paragraph-from Austen to Hemmingway. These will resonate differently, but adds variety to the story. A brief sentence, such as "He wept" or "The door opened," one active, the other passive-both Hemmingwayesque, is very effective for capping or moving a story along. However, a passage such as "It is in the realm of human experience that men generally do not weep unless provoked in the extreme," or "Shaken by the thunderous waves below the terrace, the mighty door decided to release its unbidden secrets," are good examples of Austenian (and Dickensian) presentation. Both have their place, especially if we add a drop of humor or whimsy. Humor resonates well, and is very engaging.

Combining twist with resonance, we get image. Each reader has a wealth of experience that they bring to your work. If you tap into it, you resonate and engage. If you add to it, you engage relentlessly. Therefore, you should always be conscious of the images you create. Thinking of images brings the old yarn spinner to mind. You could write: "The moon shimmered over the water reflecting the tree-line to the mind's eye." Or, you could twist and resonate this into a memorable image. "Like Trojan horses against the night moon, the old oak forest lorded over the sleeping pond-a beach head of foreboding." Now that is an image that engages. It is also a building block for more images of a Homeric kind, allowing you to reference everything from ankles to doublets, from Helen to Iphigenia. It is also more interesting, and therefore more engaging. Spin the yarn to its credible limits.

There are local images, such as the one referenced above, which engages the reader as they travel your words; and there are global images, which are built on situations, great big twists and bigger than life resonance. These are the icons of your work. The reader will most probably not remember your words, but they will remember the big pictures - the icons. When we think of The Wizard of Oz, we think tornadoes in Kansas, Scarecrows, Flying Monkeys, and Emerald Cities. We do not think of L. Frank Baum's words. This is due to a famous movie. However, like the movies, the reader will remember iconic scenes. Therefore, to get a reader to say to another (potential) reader "My favorite part was when the cow fell out of the sky and landed on the pitchfork," you must provide both cow and pitchfork, although not necessarily the sky. Even if your genre is Slice of Life psychoanalytical, you must provide an iconic scene, the grand image, for remembrance. When we think of Anna Karenina, we think Woman throws herself under the wheels of oncoming train (with snow and all the trimmings). 

Engage the reader's memory by seeding. Think of the story and its logistics. Introduce objects and people as seeds for later development. A spoon used to stir the tea, may very well be the twist that turns the story line. The chance meeting of a street bum might be an opportunity to have that street bum become the main character's sister's cousin. Perhaps he was an accountant fallen to hard times. Perhaps you will need an accountant to take inventory of the spoons. Like kneading bread, the more you use and reuse characters and objects, the more engaged your reader becomes. The reader begins to feel at home within your world, because they now have a vocabulary of things and people they trust. The more they trust them, the more your opportunity to twist through contradiction.

A vital part of seeding is structural. As you seed, you shore up the overall structure of your novel. You can seed by using scenario patterns or similar characters. Patterns are redundant behaviors in the plot, mirrors so to speak, that emphasize some part of your theme. At the same time, it hides major beams in your structure. A good example is from J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings, which repeatedly has a departure image of a shining woman fading further and further away until disappearing. Tolkien also creates a pattern of danger and safety again and again, until the reader inherently believes that the characters will inevitably be in danger and, likewise, will be saved. Such patterning can be applied to similar characters, usually brothers or sisters, who extend each other's depth by dipping from the same gene pool. This can be seen with Dickens in Nicholas Nickleby with the brothers Cheryble; or, the variety Jane Austen creates with her family portraits. These patterns are part of seeding the work to engage the reader better.

Finally, and most important, movement is critical. Stay in the same place for too long and you risk disengaging the reader. Therefore, you need to know when to dwell and when to move. Move too quickly and the reader is puzzled-too slowly, they nod off. In both cases, disengaged. Remember, if you cease to tell the story, the story ends. The trick for serialized genres, for example, is to forecast story movement so the reader can be disengaged from the story at a point in time and reengage immediately a week later. You can move forward by moving backward, although flashback is somewhat cliché. Nonetheless, you can move backward in story telling by having the characters tell the story. You can manipulate speed by changing points of view, although changing from first person to third person can be disconcerting if not handled well. Dickens discovered that in Bleak House. However, if you need to control the speed of delivery, try this: In a third person novel where character A is always the point of view for the reader, begin a chapter where character B is now the focal point. This will change speed and tone (and will have your English teacher screaming bloody murder. As long as your editor does not commit suicide, you are safe).

Many authors have difficulty moving forward. Their plot points call for a character to go from point A to point B, through many interesting subpoints. They manage to waste a good deal of time and effort writing non-essentially, using valuable materials and disengaging the reader. The secret of moving forward is just that. Do it. Have the character at point A, with a notion that point B is the destination. Then, start a new paragraph at point B. Use a short phrase like, "It was raining at Point B." The reader adjusts to this immediately, and will not miss the mounds of walking, hiking, flying, and swimming (although swimming might be worth a subpoint-sharks and barracudas). They will be in the story and very much engaged. They do not need the infamous three asterisks (***).

In conclusion, a good story is one that fully engages the reader by twisting the elements into something worthwhile and memorable. You constantly tell the story, resonating with the reader's natural ability to simulate into the world you create. Give the reader interesting images and some icons, and they walk away satisfied. Hold this world together through seeding and patterning; and, above all, keep it moving. Tell a good story and your characters will write themselves and your material will team with themes from cover to cover. 

Edward C. Patterson
author of Are YTou Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditional Publisher?


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Over 4,200 copies out there and 44 reviews (37 5-stars) on Amazon and Smashwords. Get that novel out of the drawer and onto the kindle.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Still selling like hot cakes.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

This book supports more than the publishing process. It hd oodles of tips on revising your work for publication.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

For those who want to be published, I give you my thoughts.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Still; as popular as ever. Get your copy today.  

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Heather Hummel Author

Sorry if this question was already asked and answered - but does it tell you how to load a book for FREE on Kindle? I have always used DTP and can't seem to find a way to load my novel for free for 1 month.

Thanks in advance for assistance and congrats on your book!


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Heather Hummel Author said:


> Sorry if this question was already asked and answered - but does it tell you how to load a book for FREE on Kindle? I have always used DTP and can't seem to find a way to load my novel for free for 1 month.
> 
> Thanks in advance for assistance and congrats on your book!


Unfortunately, my book doesn't touch that issue, because it's a relatively new trick. (There was an older trick using mobipocket to get your book up for a penny, but . . .). However, although I haven;t done it, here's how it's done.

There's a bit of luck with it. You need to have your book at the 70% contract plan. Then, you need to lower your price on one of Amazon's competitors - Barnes&Noble, Sony, Kobo, iPad etc. If you're on Smashwords, you can do it there and have them all set to FREE. Then, Amazon will price-match your book. I hear it's a bit dicey in that Amazon's price police doesn;t catch every FREE book or below the Amazon price book out there. But, that's how it's done. Most of my books are at the 3% contract (which doesn;t have price matching perse), and are at 99 cents.

Thanks for asking

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Heather Hummel Author

Interesting. I do use Smashwords, but they take forever to distribute, and when I tried to upload my two latest books to them, it hung and hung and never loaded. I've used them a lot, but am disheartened with them as of late.

Thanks for the help. I think I'll just stick to my priced books.


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

You're welcome. Any time.

Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Learn how to join your voice to the choir of Indie authors.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Still only $ .99

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

With over 25 five star reviews, this little book should help you get started.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Griffin Hayes

Looks great! Going to check it out right now.


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Thanks, Griffen

Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

I hope the material in this little volume has proved helpful to the 4,300 + people who have bought it.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Let's talk turkey about this Indie publishing thing.  

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

This work is useful if your revising a book also.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

This is a humorist's take on Indie pblishing.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Learn some new stuff with laughter on your lip.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

I've been contacted by many authors who have commended this book and said it helped them. WooHoo! I done good.  

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

A little practicality + a little homespun humor = getting that book out of your desk drawer and into readr's hands.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Still going ganbusters on Amazon.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Some advice from a pioneer Indie.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Now that's there's lots of books out there on the subject, you might just want this one to help you assume the proper attitude.  

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Come rock and roll with me and my advice on Indie publishing.     Publish with a smile.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Remember that half this book is devoted to revising you manuscript (oh joy! ph joy!). Actually, the revision process can be as much fun as the initial dash for the draft.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

FREE March 4-10 at Smashwords.

http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/EdwardCPatterson

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Publishing is an attitude. Is you attitude correct?

Edward C.Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Includes material and advice on how to finish a novel - you know, the ending.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Angerona Love

Greetings! I just purchased your book. Thank you in advance for what I am sure will be a great read.

I've read a lot of books about Kindle publishing. My favorites so far are The Ultimate Kindle Publishing Resource Kit by Jeff Richards, How to Publish and Sell Your Article for the Kindle (or something like that) by Kate Harper, and Kindle Cash by Michael Masters.

I also wrote an article about these three books. I'll happily add your title to the article once I've read it.


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Angerona Love said:


> Greetings! I just purchased your book. Thank you in advance for what I am sure will be a great read.
> 
> I've read a lot of books about Kindle publishing. My favorites so far are The Ultimate Kindle Publishing Resource Kit by Jeff Richards, How to Publish and Sell Your Article for the Kindle (or something like that) by Kate Harper, and Kindle Cash by Michael Masters.
> 
> I also wrote an article about these three books. I'll happily add your title to the article once I've read it.


Thanks. Things have changed since I've been publishing on the Kindle and POD (I'm one of the first author's to publish on the Kindle - Novemer 17, 2007), but I launched my little how-to book in the spirit of the Indie movement, plus as you'll find, I also have tips there for revising a novel.

Thanks and enjoy
Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

The sections on how to revise and finish your novel have been favroably received by authors.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditional Publisher? - Still?? Join the revolution.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Just what you need, another book on Indie publishing - bt, hold on a minute - I believe mine was one of the first.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

How to Self-Publish by a Person with 4 Year Experience (5-stars)

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Get that manuscript out of the side draer and share it with the world. If it's good, you're denying others. If it's . . . well, if it just is, then don't worry - they'll tell you. But you'll never know until you've tried.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Let me stand over your shoulders and kibitz.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Also includes a complete guide to revising a novel.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Over 4,000 in circulation and fistfuls of great reviews.  

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Before you Publish . .  Can We Talk Here?


----------



## RosalieJamesWrites

Self-publishing is attractive to me because you have more control. There is also an element of surprise at work. The Big 6 may have a playbook, but they don't always know what will work and what won't. That's where we come in. We can self-publish our stories, keep that crazy character, examine the scene differently, reword it the way we want to reword it. 

And you know, most of the greats self-published their work. Who's to say you aren't next? 

Rosalie James


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

And yet, you're still submitting?  

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

This is one of the Indie vanguard books and I hope it's made a difference. The feedback says, it has.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Over 25 5-star reviews.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

A big thank you to all my readers for their continued support. May I keep you entertained for years to come.

Edward C. Patterson
Readers Rock!


----------



## William S.

Great post Ed!  Really informative.  

No doubt, Kindle is revolutionizing the publishing industry speeding up turnaround time and giving more authors a shot at getting their works into the market!  

It's really heartening to see that more ebooks sell than books in print -- I believe 114 to 100.  Much success to everyone!


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

This is my little book that just keeps going. 

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

I'm proud to be a pioneer in Indie publishing and happy to share my perspectives.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Still kicking with oodles of advice from a pioneer Kindle and CreateSpace author. (5 years and still goin')

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

"The First Step is Validation
Are You Self-Published, an Indie Author, or just waitin' around?
The First Step is Validation
We Know Why You Write - So Why Do You want to be Published?
Editting - Grandma and Spieling Countt
Publishing Trends - Sunrise and Sunset
Deciding What to Publish
Just in Time, I found you Just in Time
Manuscript Preparation - One
Adding Pages for Kindle Manuscript Preparation
Launching Your Masterpiece on the Kindle (Start Your Engines)
Launching Your Manuscript on the Kindle Let's Do It
Pieces of Eight - The Amazon Kindle Page (Kindle)
Preparing Your Manuscript for CreateSpace
Lulu's Book Wizard
Forwad March into Print - CreateSpace
The Short Waiting Game
Promoting Yourself on the Amazon Discussion Groups
Working the On-line Streets
Your Book and the Public
It's a Wrap

[size=12pt]_Part II
Articles on Writing_

Writing Good Stories

The Novelization process

Revision vs. Re-vision

_Approaching Revisions
Rethinking and Revising Imagery in Novels
Revising the Horror of Stage Directions
Maintaining and Violating POV in a Novel
Logic vs. Illogic - Hanging the Lanterns
How to End a Novel
Sound and Sense - Shelley vs. Dickens_[/b][/center]

What Readers say about Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditional Publisher?

"If you're thinking of writing a book, if you're tired of the traditional publisher slush-piles, if you want to improve your writing or your promotions, or if you want to see how wacky authors think, get this book and learn. You won't be sorry. "

"Edward C. Patterson gives invaluable tips for determining whether a book is actually ready to publish, then he tells exactly how to get the manuscript formatted for ebook and POD. The second half of the book is filled with writing tips that prospective authors can use to polish their work before publishing. You can't go wrong with this book. Buy it today and get your manuscript in print in a matter of weeks, not years."

"If you're thinking about self publishing or new to the business, do yourself a favor and read "Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditional Publisher?" before you step onto that lonely path alone. "

"If I had read this book earlier it would have saved me untold hours of Googling and worrying"

"Edward Patterson writes with intelligence, humor and considerable knowledge of the industry. "

"The writer addresses the reader in a conversational fashion - this is readily acceptable and helps make his advice clear."

Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditional Publisher http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001O9BERY


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Since I just hit 18,000 in book circulation, I have a thing or two to say about it.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

What's a traditional publisher now? Sounds like an idea of another book.  

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

. . . and 18,000 plus books later.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Happy Holidays to all.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Happy New Year to all my fans and readcers.

Edward C. Patterson
Readers Rock!


----------



## Neil Ostroff

Traditional publishing is DEAD. Indie all the way!


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Thanks, Neil:

Ed P


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Over 4,000 copies in circulation with over 30 5-star reviews.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

A little birdie on your shoulder - ME.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Need a little proding? Let me strike your fancy.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## *DrDLN* (dr.s.dhillon)

After my contracts expired, I have, in fact, published with CS. So I am moving away from traditional publishers.


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Thanks for saying.

Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Over 4,000 in circulation and still offering Indie authors a tidbit or two or five or . . . 


Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Nothing like sharing the experience. The world of details constantly change, but observations nag.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Nearly 5,000 copies in circulation and 30+ 5-star reviews.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Let me kibbitz over your authoring shoulder.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

I did it my way, and so can you.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Having doubts? Need some friendly authorial advice? This is the book for you.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Still helping the Indie Revolution.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

After over 4 years out there, this little advice book on Indie publishing is still going strong.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

I hope you have as much fun reading this book as I had writing it.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Kol Anderson

This looks like a good read! Thanks for adding it for us!


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Kol Anderson said:


> This looks like a good read! Thanks for adding it for us!


Thanks. Hope you enjoy it.

Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Deciding What to Publish

This topic will be brief. It’s part of the prerequisite to Indie Publishing. If you have only one book in your personal catalog that has been talent validated, thoroughly edited and ready to shoot the rapids, then this is a moot point. However, your first Indie book must be sufficiently packaged to attract a reader to an unknown name. It’s a point we shall take up later. However, if your book is an 180,000 word epic fantasy novel, you are asking a tall order from your new reader, in print — less so in e-book, because you can lower the price to something like $3.99 and some readers are more price driven than others. If you have a few literary properties up your sleeve, publish the shortest, and the most intense first. Use the tools that we’ll discuss to give a sample of your writing style. Write a blurb that will get someone’s attention. 
If you marshal your work properly, effectively priced, you’ll get a reader. If you can get that reader to review the book, you’re sure to get another reader . . . and another reader . . . and then that reader will read your next book . . . and your next book. And that’s how the process works. This topic begs more questions than answers, I know. However, I mention it here because you must have a plan in your head on which material will lead out, or the initial frustration might send you screaming back to that scheisshole of queries and pitches and agents and bored acquisition editors and the gates of Dead-Tree house hell. (That would make a glorious book title – The Gates of Dead Tree House Hell). In my own case, I published three novellas and two books of poetry first. Now, whatever I publish, I can get a reader (at least one) to buy and read. My first book sold two copies in the first month. My last book sold 30 copies in the first 2 weeks (and it was an 180,000-word Fantasy epic). In addition, with eight books out there, they haven’t mid-shelfed yet. I was even able to sell the poetry books, which as we all know, is a labor of love. Love deserves to be shared and read also.

PS: Since then I've published 22 books and have pushed out nearly 120,000 copys over these tiutles.

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

FREE for July: Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Tradition Publisher? - at Smaswords

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/316
Use coupon code SW100 upon check out

Ed Patterson


----------



## Shane Ward

Edward C. Patterson said:


> After over 4 years out there, this little advice book on Indie publishing is still going strong.
> 
> Edward C. Patterson


4 years out there,  Doing good then... Is it making many people famous in Indie publishing?

I always thought Indie publishing was books published by publishers in India!!! (Shame on me, I know the truth now!)

Shane


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

Shane Ward said:


> 4 years out there,  Doing good then... Is it making many people famous in Indie publishing?
> 
> I always thought Indie publishing was books published by publishers in India!!! (Shame on me, I know the truth now!)
> 
> Shane


I don;t know, but there's over 4,000 coipies in circulation and 32 five star reviews, so I hope it's helped. 

Thanks
Ed Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

*FREE for the entire month of July at Smashwords.com. 
Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditional Publisher?
by 
Edward C. Patterson

For the Indie Author on all of Us

Use coupon SW100 upon check out and enjoy
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/316*​


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

A HOW TO book on Indie publishing and other stuff (like a guide to revising a novel)

Edward C. Patterson


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

*FREE Today and Tomorrow August 31st and September 1st at Amazon*

*Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditonal Publisher?*
*by*
*Edward C. Patterson*

*26 5-stars out of 32 reviews*
*Homespun advice for those who yearn to publish*

​
*With the new and exciting world of Kindles and Print-on-Demand (POD), Independent Publishing is becoming an enticing choice and a viable alternative to traditional publishing. The old days of "self-publishing and vanity presses" are over. Indie Authors are giving readers a wide variety of quality reads in all genres. Are you unsure of how to go about it? Do you crave to know the best options? What are the pitfalls? From discussions of picking up the traditional process and bringing it home, to setting up files for Amazon's Kindle and POD, "Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditional Publisher?" provides tips and ideas, set-by-steps and coaching on quality control.

Edward C. Patterson has successfully published twenty-two books with twelve in the pipeline. In addition to the title article, this work includes three other craft discussions: "Writing Good Stories","The Novelization Process", and "Revision vs. Re-Vision", an extensive guide to revising a novel. Whether you are new to publishing or an established author, the opinions expressed and experiences shared in this book should stimulate your curiosity and provide answers to questions you might not have asked.
126 pages

Edward C. Patterson*


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

*FREE Today and Tomorrow October 17th and 18th at Amazon*

*Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditonal Publisher?*
*by*
*Edward C. Patterson*

*26 5-stars out of 32 reviews*
*Homespun advice for those who yearn to publish*

​
*With the new and exciting world of Kindles and Print-on-Demand (POD), Independent Publishing is becoming an enticing choice and a viable alternative to traditional publishing. The old days of "self-publishing and vanity presses" are over. Indie Authors are giving readers a wide variety of quality reads in all genres. Are you unsure of how to go about it? Do you crave to know the best options? What are the pitfalls? From discussions of picking up the traditional process and bringing it home, to setting up files for Amazon's Kindle and POD, "Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditional Publisher?" provides tips and ideas, set-by-steps and coaching on quality control.

Edward C. Patterson has successfully published twenty-two books with twelve in the pipeline. In addition to the title article, this work includes three other craft discussions: "Writing Good Stories","The Novelization Process", and "Revision vs. Re-Vision", an extensive guide to revising a novel. Whether you are new to publishing or an established author, the opinions expressed and experiences shared in this book should stimulate your curiosity and provide answers to questions you might not have asked.
126 pages

Edward C. Patterson*


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

*FREE Today and Tomorrow - November 21st & 22nd at Amazon*

*Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditonal Publisher?*
*by*
*Edward C. Patterson*

*26 5-stars out of 33 reviews*
*Homespun advice for those who yearn to publish*

​
*With the new and exciting world of Kindles and Print-on-Demand (POD), Independent Publishing is becoming an enticing choice and a viable alternative to traditional publishing. The old days of "self-publishing and vanity presses" are over. Indie Authors are giving readers a wide variety of quality reads in all genres. Are you unsure of how to go about it? Do you crave to know the best options? What are the pitfalls? From discussions of picking up the traditional process and bringing it home, to setting up files for Amazon's Kindle and POD, "Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditional Publisher?" provides tips and ideas, set-by-steps and coaching on quality control.

Edward C. Patterson has successfully published twenty-two books with twelve in the pipeline. In addition to the title article, this work includes three other craft discussions: "Writing Good Stories","The Novelization Process", and "Revision vs. Re-Vision", an extensive guide to revising a novel. Whether you are new to publishing or an established author, the opinions expressed and experiences shared in this book should stimulate your curiosity and provide answers to questions you might not have asked.
126 pages

Edward C. Patterson*


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

*FREE Today and Tomorrow - January 13th & 14th at Amazon*

*Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditonal Publisher?*
*by*
*Edward C. Patterson*

*26 5-stars out of 33 reviews*
*Homespun advice for those who yearn to publish*

​
*With the new and exciting world of Kindles and Print-on-Demand (POD), Independent Publishing is becoming an enticing choice and a viable alternative to traditional publishing. The old days of "self-publishing and vanity presses" are over. Indie Authors are giving readers a wide variety of quality reads in all genres. Are you unsure of how to go about it? Do you crave to know the best options? What are the pitfalls? From discussions of picking up the traditional process and bringing it home, to setting up files for Amazon's Kindle and POD, "Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditional Publisher?" provides tips and ideas, set-by-steps and coaching on quality control.

Edward C. Patterson has successfully published twenty-two books with twelve in the pipeline. In addition to the title article, this work includes three other craft discussions: "Writing Good Stories","The Novelization Process", and "Revision vs. Re-Vision", an extensive guide to revising a novel. Whether you are new to publishing or an established author, the opinions expressed and experiences shared in this book should stimulate your curiosity and provide answers to questions you might not have asked.
126 pages

Edward C. Patterson*


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

*FREE Today and Tomorrow March 6th & 7th at Amazon*

*Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditonal Publisher?*
*by*
*Edward C. Patterson*

*26 5-stars out of 33 reviews*
*Homespun advice for those who yearn to publish*

​
*With the new and exciting world of Kindles and Print-on-Demand (POD), Independent Publishing is becoming an enticing choice and a viable alternative to traditional publishing. The old days of "self-publishing and vanity presses" are over. Indie Authors are giving readers a wide variety of quality reads in all genres. Are you unsure of how to go about it? Do you crave to know the best options? What are the pitfalls? From discussions of picking up the traditional process and bringing it home, to setting up files for Amazon's Kindle and POD, "Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditional Publisher?" provides tips and ideas, set-by-steps and coaching on quality control.

Edward C. Patterson has successfully published twenty-two books with twelve in the pipeline. In addition to the title article, this work includes three other craft discussions: "Writing Good Stories","The Novelization Process", and "Revision vs. Re-Vision", an extensive guide to revising a novel. Whether you are new to publishing or an established author, the opinions expressed and experiences shared in this book should stimulate your curiosity and provide answers to questions you might not have asked.
126 pages

Edward C. Patterson*


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

*FREE Today and Tomorrow April 17th & 18th at Amazon*

*Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditonal Publisher?*
*by*
*Edward C. Patterson*

*26 5-stars out of 33 reviews*
*Homespun advice for those who yearn to publish*

​
*With the new and exciting world of Kindles and Print-on-Demand (POD), Independent Publishing is becoming an enticing choice and a viable alternative to traditional publishing. The old days of "self-publishing and vanity presses" are over. Indie Authors are giving readers a wide variety of quality reads in all genres. Are you unsure of how to go about it? Do you crave to know the best options? What are the pitfalls? From discussions of picking up the traditional process and bringing it home, to setting up files for Amazon's Kindle and POD, "Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditional Publisher?" provides tips and ideas, set-by-steps and coaching on quality control.

Edward C. Patterson has successfully published twenty-two books with twelve in the pipeline. In addition to the title article, this work includes three other craft discussions: "Writing Good Stories","The Novelization Process", and "Revision vs. Re-Vision", an extensive guide to revising a novel. Whether you are new to publishing or an established author, the opinions expressed and experiences shared in this book should stimulate your curiosity and provide answers to questions you might not have asked.
126 pages

Edward C. Patterson*


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

*FREE Friday - May 9th at Amazon*

*Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditonal Publisher?*
*by*
*Edward C. Patterson*

*26 5-stars out of 33 reviews*
*Homespun advice for those who yearn to publish*

​
*With the new and exciting world of Kindles and Print-on-Demand (POD), Independent Publishing is becoming an enticing choice and a viable alternative to traditional publishing. The old days of "self-publishing and vanity presses" are over. Indie Authors are giving readers a wide variety of quality reads in all genres. Are you unsure of how to go about it? Do you crave to know the best options? What are the pitfalls? From discussions of picking up the traditional process and bringing it home, to setting up files for Amazon's Kindle and POD, "Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditional Publisher?" provides tips and ideas, set-by-steps and coaching on quality control.

Edward C. Patterson has successfully published twenty-two books with twelve in the pipeline. In addition to the title article, this work includes three other craft discussions: "Writing Good Stories","The Novelization Process", and "Revision vs. Re-Vision", an extensive guide to revising a novel. Whether you are new to publishing or an established author, the opinions expressed and experiences shared in this book should stimulate your curiosity and provide answers to questions you might not have asked.
126 pages

Edward C. Patterson*


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

*FREE Thursday & Friday June 19th & 20th at Amazon*

*Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditonal Publisher?*
*by*
*Edward C. Patterson*

*26 5-stars out of 33 reviews*
*Homespun advice for those who yearn to publish*

​
*With the new and exciting world of Kindles and Print-on-Demand (POD), Independent Publishing is becoming an enticing choice and a viable alternative to traditional publishing. The old days of "self-publishing and vanity presses" are over. Indie Authors are giving readers a wide variety of quality reads in all genres. Are you unsure of how to go about it? Do you crave to know the best options? What are the pitfalls? From discussions of picking up the traditional process and bringing it home, to setting up files for Amazon's Kindle and POD, "Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditional Publisher?" provides tips and ideas, set-by-steps and coaching on quality control.

Edward C. Patterson has successfully published twenty-two books with twelve in the pipeline. In addition to the title article, this work includes three other craft discussions: "Writing Good Stories","The Novelization Process", and "Revision vs. Re-Vision", an extensive guide to revising a novel. Whether you are new to publishing or an established author, the opinions expressed and experiences shared in this book should stimulate your curiosity and provide answers to questions you might not have asked.
126 pages

Edward C. Patterson*


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

*FREE Today & Tomorrow July 2nd & 3rd at Amazon*

*Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditonal Publisher?*
*by*
*Edward C. Patterson*

*26 5-stars out of 33 reviews*
*Homespun advice for those who yearn to publish*

​
*With the new and exciting world of Kindles and Print-on-Demand (POD), Independent Publishing is becoming an enticing choice and a viable alternative to traditional publishing. The old days of "self-publishing and vanity presses" are over. Indie Authors are giving readers a wide variety of quality reads in all genres. Are you unsure of how to go about it? Do you crave to know the best options? What are the pitfalls? From discussions of picking up the traditional process and bringing it home, to setting up files for Amazon's Kindle and POD, "Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditional Publisher?" provides tips and ideas, set-by-steps and coaching on quality control.

Edward C. Patterson has successfully published twenty-two books with twelve in the pipeline. In addition to the title article, this work includes three other craft discussions: "Writing Good Stories","The Novelization Process", and "Revision vs. Re-Vision", an extensive guide to revising a novel. Whether you are new to publishing or an established author, the opinions expressed and experiences shared in this book should stimulate your curiosity and provide answers to questions you might not have asked.
126 pages

Edward C. Patterson*


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

*FREE Today & Tomorrow Sept 8th & 9th at Amazon*

*Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditonal Publisher?*
*by*
*Edward C. Patterson*

*26 5-stars out of 33 reviews*
*Homespun advice for those who yearn to publish*

​
*With the new and exciting world of Kindles and Print-on-Demand (POD), Independent Publishing is becoming an enticing choice and a viable alternative to traditional publishing. The old days of "self-publishing and vanity presses" are over. Indie Authors are giving readers a wide variety of quality reads in all genres. Are you unsure of how to go about it? Do you crave to know the best options? What are the pitfalls? From discussions of picking up the traditional process and bringing it home, to setting up files for Amazon's Kindle and POD, "Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditional Publisher?" provides tips and ideas, set-by-steps and coaching on quality control.

Edward C. Patterson has successfully published twenty-two books with twelve in the pipeline. In addition to the title article, this work includes three other craft discussions: "Writing Good Stories","The Novelization Process", and "Revision vs. Re-Vision", an extensive guide to revising a novel. Whether you are new to publishing or an established author, the opinions expressed and experiences shared in this book should stimulate your curiosity and provide answers to questions you might not have asked.
126 pages

Edward C. Patterson*


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

*FREE Today & Tomorrow Oct 11th & 12th at Amazon*

*Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditonal Publisher?*
*by*
*Edward C. Patterson*

*26 5-stars out of 34 reviews*
*Homespun advice for those who yearn to publish*

​
*What Readers say:

"Should be required reading for any who want to self-publish at Amazon." - CJ Easyaspie

"If you want to self-publish, you must read this book." - S. Land

"Useful Help for a newby Ebook author" - B. K.

"Have an unpublished book sitting in a drawer? Then get this book!" - S. Hawk

"What you need to know to successfully independently publish," - K. Rozier

"Mandatory Reading for Authors," - S. B. Williams

"Wish I had read this first!" - J. Chambers

--------------------------------------------------------
With the new and exciting world of Kindles and Print-on-Demand (POD), Independent Publishing is becoming an enticing choice and a viable alternative to traditional publishing. The old days of "self-publishing and vanity presses" are over. Indie Authors are giving readers a wide variety of quality reads in all genres. Are you unsure of how to go about it? Do you crave to know the best options? What are the pitfalls? From discussions of picking up the traditional process and bringing it home, to setting up files for Amazon's Kindle and POD, "Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditional Publisher?" provides tips and ideas, set-by-steps and coaching on quality control.

Edward C. Patterson has successfully published twenty-f5ve books with twelve in the pipeline. In addition to the title article, this work includes three other craft discussions: "Writing Good Stories","The Novelization Process", and "Revision vs. Re-Vision", an extensive guide to revising a novel. Whether you are new to publishing or an established author, the opinions expressed and experiences shared in this book should stimulate your curiosity and provide answers to questions you might not have asked.
126 pages

Edward C. Patterson*


----------



## Edward C. Patterson

*FREE Today & Tomorrow Nov 18th & 19th at Amazon*

*Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditonal Publisher?*
*by*
*Edward C. Patterson*

*26 5-stars out of 34 reviews*
*Homespun advice for those who yearn to publish*

​
*What Readers say:

"Should be required reading for any who want to self-publish at Amazon." - CJ Easyaspie

"If you want to self-publish, you must read this book." - S. Land

"Useful Help for a newby Ebook author" - B. K.

"Have an unpublished book sitting in a drawer? Then get this book!" - S. Hawk

"What you need to know to successfully independently publish," - K. Rozier

"Mandatory Reading for Authors," - S. B. Williams

"Wish I had read this first!" - J. Chambers

--------------------------------------------------------
With the new and exciting world of Kindles and Print-on-Demand (POD), Independent Publishing is becoming an enticing choice and a viable alternative to traditional publishing. The old days of "self-publishing and vanity presses" are over. Indie Authors are giving readers a wide variety of quality reads in all genres. Are you unsure of how to go about it? Do you crave to know the best options? What are the pitfalls? From discussions of picking up the traditional process and bringing it home, to setting up files for Amazon's Kindle and POD, "Are You Still Submitting Your Work to a Traditional Publisher?" provides tips and ideas, set-by-steps and coaching on quality control.

Edward C. Patterson has successfully published twenty-f5ve books with twelve in the pipeline. In addition to the title article, this work includes three other craft discussions: "Writing Good Stories","The Novelization Process", and "Revision vs. Re-Vision", an extensive guide to revising a novel. Whether you are new to publishing or an established author, the opinions expressed and experiences shared in this book should stimulate your curiosity and provide answers to questions you might not have asked.
126 pages

Edward C. Patterson*


----------

