Category Archives: Colette Black

…And then I became a writer.

When people talk about finances, business models, marketing, and spreadsheets, all I here is, “blah, blah, blah…” That’s how I’ve been most of my life. I can discuss calculus with more energy than I can muster up for anything related to business. I had to stop and recognize that becoming an author meant I was going into business. I had to make a shift in my way of thinking, especially regarding the works I would self-publish.

We’ve talked about the business side before, but I’m going to say it again, one of the best places to learn about that aspect of writing is Superstars Writing Seminars. Check it out. Beyond that, as I went through the process of putting together my short story anthology, The Black Side, I realized forming my own publishing company was probably a good idea. Jace Sanders addressed this in his post, “My friend said to get an LLC”, but I’m not going to talk about reasons to form publishing companies or types of companies. Instead, let’s talk about some of the business decisions that might need to be considered in conjunction with forming a company.

Money: Where does it come from and where does it go? Trees, right? I’m still wishing for one of those, but in the meantime, I had to decide if I needed a separate bank account for my business. Depending on the type of business you organize, it may be a necessity, but what if it’s not? After spending time talking with a bank manager, I realized I had a few options. There were multiple types of accounts to choose from and I’m glad I didn’t jump on the first one they suggested to me. I took the time to talk with them, fully understand the pros and cons for each one and the possible tax implications, and then I made an informed decision based on my current needs. In a few years, those needs might change, and that’s something to keep in mind, too.

But it didn’t end with the bank. After getting my account, checks, etc. , I still needed to get everything in place on Amazon, Paypal and any other service related to my business. I’m still in the process of deciding whether to get the Flint app for payment services or the traditional Square. Maybe that can be a future discussion.

Thanks to Heidi Berthiaume and her excellent advice on how to run a Kickstarter, at least I had money with which to publish my first novel and to make the whole process possible. I can’t wait to get her upcoming book on the subject. Money doesn’t bring happiness, but it helps make a business.

Privacy: You know the part of the copyright page where it says the publishing company and then the ADDRESS? That’s not the only place where you might want to have contact information, but you might not want it to be your home address. This is where a PO Box can come in handy. The postal service offers small boxes for very reasonable fees that won’t cost you more than a night out to dinner. Not everyone takes this option, but I think it’s worth it. When I send out the rewards for my Kickstarter, that’s the return address my supporters will see, further allowing me to separate my personal life, from my business life.

Perception: I don’t think forming a publishing company really changes anyone’s perception of the self-published writer. For those of us familiar with traditional versus self-publishing, it doesn’t take much investigation to recognize whether a writer went through an outside publishing company or formed their own. But registering my company name with the state, the bank account, PO Box, getting an EIN, and all of the other things involved, changed my self-perception, reminding me that I must treat this venture for what it is, a business. I must market, I must work, and I must be professional in order to make it profitable. I also developed a business logo that has personal meaning. Each time I put that on the cover of a book, I’m reminded again, that I’m not only an author, I’m a businesswoman.

So, as you contemplate whether or not to take self-publishing to the level of forming your own publishing company, I hope this gives you some information to consider in your pros and cons.

*As has been stated in previous posts, by other blog contributors, this is not legal advice.

Making Murder Acceptable

February 11, 2014

Colette Black

Character Colette Black Conflict Craft & Skills 3 Comments

Loving a murderer can be difficult, but when you have a heavy-on-the action romance, sometimes it’s necessary. So, how do we make someone who is capable of committing murder, likable to our readers and our love interest? Here are some ideas, many of which parallel Marie Bilodeau’s recent post. The more of them we use, the more likable the hero becomes. Conversely, too many and the hero becomes cheesy. Finding the balance, and finding what fits for your murderer’s personality, is the fun part.

1) Give your murderer a good reason: An Uzi-fest on a whim in the middle of a family-filled park is not going to sit well with anyone. An Uzi-fest to destroy the carriers of a lethal virus in order to save all of humanity, though still difficult to stomach, allows a reader to sympathize with your hero’s difficult decision.

2) Make the victims deserve it: Innocent families gathering in a park don’t deserve to die. The families belonging to “We Believe in Aryan Race Dominance,” who took over the park, inoculated themselves against the lethal virus they then released, and are intending to destroy everyone who doesn’t fit into their standard of perfection, might deserve to die–at least, the parents. I have to admit, having the kids die might still be questionable.

3) Conscientious murderers feel remorse: Even if the crazy adults got what they deserved, the murderer has to feel bad about what he’s done, and devastated about the children put into this situation by their parents.

4) No other choice: If gathering the perpetrators up and putting them in a giant plastic bubble for the rest of their lives was an option, then mowing them down with an Uzi was not an acceptable alternative. We need to believe that the murderer had no other options, or believed s/he did what had to be done.

5) Make the murderer likable: David Farland talks about this in his seminars and I think he calls it “petting the dog.” While racing to the park in his/her car, if the murderer swerved to avoid a dog in the street, we like our murdering hero better because we know he cares about animals. It doesn’t have to be a dog. It can be another animal, a child, an older person… anything that shows us our murderer is a caring individual.

6) Make the murderer liked: When others care about a character, the readers are likely to care. Show the readers that love interest early, or show us that the murderer’s friend loaned out his brand new Porsche because he believes in the murderer’s good character.

There are many tricks to creating a murdering hero still worthy of a happily-ever-after ending. What are yours?

Backing

December 4, 2013

Colette Black

Business Colette Black Marketing Publishing Starting a Career No Comments

I had a long list to think about when presented with this month’s theme: The Greatest Gift I’ve Received as a Writer. Numerous people have helped me along my chosen path, giving me the kind of gifts you don’t buy with money, but with time. There have been a lot of conventions and seminars, paid for from our family budget in lieu of my birthday or Mother’s Day presents, which have influenced my direction as a writer. But the most recent gift I’ve received, and the most touching, has been the support from friends, fans, family, and even strangers in supporting my recent Kickstarter project to publish Noble Ark. Not because of the money.

The gift of friendship: The fact that within minutes of announcing the project, I had my first two backers, both of whom pledged for the highest-cost items, left me dumbfounded. Both people are friends and fellow-writers, I don’t think either cared about the reward, but they wanted to support my efforts and jumped at the opportunity to do all they could. I have amazing colleagues and friends.

The gift of fans: One of my beta readers has become particularly encouraging about my work. Not only did she pledge for the Kickstarter, wanting all the books in the series when it’s finished, but she also asked if she could do preliminary editing. She reads a lot, and the fact that she considers my books to be among the best she’s ever read, let’s just say, I feel the love.

Family and the Widow’s Mite: Of course, my family stepped in, and some of my family members contributed in huge ways. The amounts didn’t matter, but I know that some of them have very tight budgets right now. My children could have waited until the books were finished, buying them at cost, but didn’t. My oldest son, living in the Ukraine, found the Kickstarter and donated funds he didn’t have. My oldest daughter, in college, threw in funds as well (though I’m not sure if that means it was her money, scholarship money, or my own money coming back to me). Perhaps the most touching, my twelve year old spent the last $7 in her spending-money account–and she doesn’t get much–to show her support. I can’t easily express my reverent appreciation for the people who sacrificed, despite their difficult economic challenges, to show me encouragement. I’m in awe.

Strangers: One of the funnest aspects of the Kickstarter was having total strangers contribute, sometimes finding me on fb and asking to join my fan page. How cool is that? I’m eager for the opportunity to put my book in their hands, hoping they’ll love what they read as much as I love writing it. They give me hope that someday my writing can reach beyond my small circle of friends and family, and be read by people around the world.

The best gift of all that came from my Kickstarter was not the funding, but the belief in myself and the path I’m pursuing. Isn’t that what Christmas is all about? As they say in The Polar Express, “BELIEVE.”

Commissioning an Artist

November 14, 2013

Colette Black

Business Colette Black Contracts Interacting With Professionals Publishing No Comments

When I decided to self-publish my novel, Noble Ark, I had no experience with self-publishing, and little information. Thanks to Superstars Writing Seminars, I knew that a professional cover, typesetting, and editing were paramount, but I went into the process somewhat blind, or so I thought. As I took each step, the next one fell into place. Let’s start at the beginning.

Why? Why should you commission an artist rather than put together artwork yourself? That is a viable option. Here are a few things to consider. Is your book’s subject matter such that you can find usable artwork online? If so, then I direct you to istockphoto, shutterstock, and bigstockphoto. If you do a search of stock photos, there are a lot of websites to choose from.

If you’re an artist or know something about art, you can probably photoshop the images you want in engaging ways and do your own cover art. If you are not an artist, don’t have typesetting training, or don’t have hours and hours to spend putting together the perfect cover then I suggest hiring someone. That cover is the first thing readers see and if it isn’t engaging, they will likely move on. Some suggestions on companies that do cover art: Ebook Artisan Design, JD Smith Design or ask around to your writing friends for their suggestions.

But what if you have one of those books that doesn’t easily fit into what can be found among the stock photos? What if one of the main focuses of your book series is an alien race that’s uncannily similar to humans, yet also vastly different. What if you believe showcasing these aliens and bringing them to life in the reader’s eye before they even open the book is paramount? That’s where I found myself, and so I decided to commission an artist.

Where? That’s the first step, isn’t it? You can’t commission an artist if you don’t know one. I know a few, but thankfully, I also knew better. About a year ago, I asked a friend of mine, a budding artist, to see what he could do with the Noble Ark concept. No promises, but if he was willing to try, I’d be willing to pay. He came back to me with the prototype, and though it was good, we both agreed it wasn’t the quality needed for a professional novel. He wasn’t quite there with his craft yet. Friends are great, but remember that professionalism counts. Only work with friends if you know that you can approach one another as professionals.

I’d learned about an art website, Deviant Art, from workshops, Superstars, and from my friend, so I decided to join and see what I could find there. Be prepared, I had to spend some time. A lot of the artwork is fantastic, but I wanted an artist who fit the style that I foresaw for my books. I perused the site on and off for weeks. I found six. Some of them weren’t accepting commissions because they already had an overfull workload. One of them was accepting limited commissions for projects that she liked, which meant I had to win her over. Don’t think that you can peruse through the artwork, pick an artist, and he/she will fall at your feet and be thankful for the work. Good artists have plenty of work and they don’t generally need unknown authors. I sent a note to Suzanne Helmigh, told her about my book and why I thought her art style would do well with my subject matter. She replied that she was interested and to send her more info. I had to hook her with my book synopsis the same way we hook readers to look inside the cover to the first page. Once we’d passed a few notes back and forth through deviant art then she agreed to the commission.

How? Suzanne recommended we do thumbnails first. The picture at the top of this post is a thumbnail. It’s a rough sketch, a type of concept art, to give the author an idea of how the finished artwork will be set up. They’re not free, but I believe they’re worth it. By purchasing the thumbnails, it gave me something to show Kickstarter investors, and it helped me cement what I wanted on the cover before moving forward with the commission.

Then came time for the contract. I’ve never put together a contract and hadn’t the slightest clue, but I’d been collecting useful websites and I have some great friends. I read this article, http://blog.gallegosart.com/2012/10/how-to-commission-illustration.html and downloaded the free book. There’s an important concept in the book, shown in the illustration to the right. Learn it. Believe it. If you look online, there are dozens of contract templates. I used this one by Kelly Nomad, and a couple of author friends let me study their contracts for a few tweaks. After showing the contract to my artist, Suzanne, she suggested a couple of changes that were mutually beneficial, so I incorporated them into the contract then used Docusign to make it easier for both of us. I highly recommend the company and they’ll let you send up to five contracts free without obligation.

A few days ago, I sent Suzanne her down payment via Paypal, her preferred payment method. It’s a little bit of work to commission an artist, but I think it’s worth it. The cover for Noble Ark will stand out and catch readers’ attention. I hope the information I’ve found is of some use to someone and I hope to see more beautiful covers on e-shelves in the future. Good luck to us all.