A Self-Publishing Adventure

Jennifer is self-publishing one of her backlist books...

When my previous publisher, Rebel Ink Press, let me know they were closing their doors in June, I wasn't surprised. However, I was conflicted about what to do with the four books on my backlist that I had with them. So after taking a breath, I decided to try self-publishing one of my titles. 

I've heard a lot about self-publishing but didn't quite know how it worked. So before I did anything, I talked to people who did it, and did it well. And what I learned is that while you have to pay money for editing, covers, etc., the percentage of royalties you make is significantly higher than the percentage you make with a traditional publisher. That's not to say I don't want to publish with a publisher. I do. I'm very happy with my current publisher. But some of the backlist books whose rights I now have back are not going to go anywhere and I don't want them to languish in the ether.

Self-publishing is a growing industry and hybrid authors (those who do a combination of self-publishing and traditional publishing) are on the rise. The stigma around self-publishing is gone, especially if you self-publish well. 

I’m starting small, only working with one of those books—A Heart of Little Faith. The first thing I did was to give it to an editor. No matter how many times it’s been looked at, it can always benefit from someone other than me looking at it. A writer friend I know is also a freelance editor. She edited the entire manuscript and oh boy, there were a lot of changes she recommended. I took a deep breath and made them, and wow, the book is SO much better. 

Then I sent the manuscript to a copy editor. Because again, I always miss the little things and those are the things that end up embarrassing me (Random Reader: Did you know you spelled that word wrong?). I know someone who is phenomenal at copyediting and she found lots of things that would have been embarrassing if they had been published. 

Whenever a book is re-published, it needs a new cover. So I hired a cover artist, who designed a beautiful cover.

https://www.amazon.com/Heart-Little-Faith-Jennifer-Wilck-ebook/dp/B07D3BNZG9

One of my critique partners does all her own formatting and works with Amazon, so she handled formatting and gave me explicit and easy instructions on how to put it up on the site. It's there now and available for pre-order. It will be released officially on June 1. Since this is an experiment for me, I'm only publishing this book for Kindle. I'm curious to see what happens. I know how much I spent and I’ll see how much I make in sales. If it works, I’ll self publish the others. If not, I’ll hold onto the rights for a while and see what, if any, other options I have. 

Wish me luck!

L Is For Lily

Jennifer talks about names...

How do you come up with names for your characters? On really lucky days, my characters pop into my head already named. But often, I put a placeholder in there and come up with final names as I get to know my characters better.

In my first book, A Heart of Little Faith, however, I used a baby name book. I wanted the names to symbolize character traits. The hero was strong, so I named him Gideon. Each name usually has multiple meanings, but I liked the “warrior” definition I found. The heroine had to be everything he wasn’t, though, in order to turn and soften him. So I named her Lily, which means pure (and yes, it’s also a flower). It was one more way of unveiling who the character is to the reader.

Amazon

G Is For Gideon

Jennifer talks about her first book hero...

Gideon is the hero of the first romance I ever published, AHeart of Little Faith. He’s the first hero of mine I ever fell in love with and even now, several years and more polished writing skills later, he’s still my favorite (although Dan, the hero in my current WIP is turning into a close second).

He’s hard on the outside—proud, stubborn and independent—but soft inside. He’s a sucker for kids and is fiercely loyal to his friends and sister. And he’s the first to offer anyone help who needs it.

Burned by a woman in the past, he’s hesitant to let himself fall in love again. When his boss, who’s a force of nature and a frat boy combined into one boisterous package, threatens to fix him up, Gideon knows he has to do something, so he makes a bargain with the heroine, Lily. And, well, things happen. J

I had a lot of fun writing this book. He was a complicated hero to write, but he turned out well. If you’ve read it, I’d love to know what you think.

Who are your favorite heroes to read and/or write?

C Is For Children

Jennifer talks about children as secondary characters...

I love writing children. They’re fun to create and they’re extremely useful.

They can be instigators. In A Heart of Little Faith, my heroine has to work late and she needs someone to watch her daughter, Claire. The neighbor steps up and the neighbor’s brother, the hero, entertains her with a board game until my heroine arrives:

Even before she entered, Lily could hear Claire’s giggle, and the telltale popping sound of “Trouble.” Wondering who Samantha had subjected to her mercenary daughter, Lily frowned and walked into the living room. The sight stopped her dead in her tracks. Gideon.

“Claire,” she whispered, but neither Claire nor Gideon heard her. Claire was too busy giggling uncontrollably. Her brown curly hair bobbed as she bounced around in excitement. Lily observed with wonder Claire’s ease around Gideon. Since her father died, Claire’s contact with men had been limited. Lily rarely dated and Claire tended to be shy around strange men. Not so with this man.

He turned around and nodded at Lily. “Hello.”

The sound of his voice, even that one little word, made Lily’s stomach go all jiggly inside and she swallowed as she watched his eyes rove from her wet, raggedy hair to her water-sloshed shoes.

Oftentimes, I use them as a way to explain things to readers. Because young children, especially, don’t know about certain things, they can ask questions that a main character can answer, thus providing the reader with information they wouldn’t otherwise necessarily know. For example, in TheSeduction of Esther, I needed to explain a few Jewish terms to non-Jewish readers:

“Shabbat Shalom and welcome to Temple Beth Am. I’m Dave.”

Nathaniel shook the older man’s hand and looked into kind brown eyes. “Shabbat Shalom. I’m Nathaniel and this is my daughter, Zoe. We’re new members.”

“I thought you might be. Hello, Zoe.”

“Hi, I’m seven and I go to school downstairs. Why did you say Shabbat Shalom?”

Dave smiled. “It means peaceful Sabbath and we say it to each other on Shabbat. Why don’t you and your dad go inside and sit down. Join us at the oneg afterwards for snacks. We have cookies,” he said, with a wink at Zoe.

Children also provide a way to demonstrate a main character’s traits. For example, in Skin Deep, I used Valerie’s niece to show the type of person Valerie is:

Back at the house, John disappeared upstairs, while Valerie searched for Sarah. She followed the noise of children laughing into the basement. Her nieces and nephews played board games, and their laughter, whining and arguing filtered up the stairs and through the rest of the house. Valerie stood on the bottom step and waited for Sarah to see her. When Sarah looked up, Valerie caught her eye, and Sarah ran over.

“Will you do my makeup now?” Sarah asked as she bounced up and down.

Valerie smiled at the endless energy. After her own hike, and the tension caused by dealing with John, she just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep. But she’d made a promise to her niece. And, as John had said, she was a good aunt.

Children are funny. They see things differently than adults. They’re often much more literal. At the same time, their imaginations are usually bigger and they’re more open to new things. So putting them into a situation and watching them handle it is often amusing.

How do you deal with these issues?

A Is For August

Jennifer talks about time of year as setting…

The setting of a story is as important as the characters. It’s what grounds the reader in time and place and provides a point of reference, especially in romances. Historical romance needs to portray accurate settings for the time period—everything from a regency ballroom to a Victorian mansion—and if they show anything that doesn’t fit with the time period, readers are the first to point it out.

Setting adds to and takes away from the story. Even in a contemporary romance, the details must be accurate. Winter on a farm is going to be different from fall in a small town. The US has a different feel from Europe.

Even something as simple as summer can demonstrate differences in location. Summer in a small town means fireflies and swimming in creeks or lakes or even at the beach. In a large city, though, you need to demonstrate the intensity of the heat reflecting off the cement, the heaviness of the air when mixed with the exhaust fumes of the taxicabs.

In my book, A Heart of Little Faith, a good part of the story takes place in August in New York city. The heat and humidity on the street contrasts with the cool blasts of air from the air conditioned buildings. The bright sunlight contrasts with the cool darkness inside. The heat brings on crankiness and requires extra planning when the characters are getting dressed.

In this scene, the hero and heroine, Gideon and Lily, are at a wedding of friends. The setting, including the temperature around them and the time of year, provide a backdrop to what is going on between the two characters:

Gideon stole a look at Lily. He studied her as she focused on the service. Her green eyes, emphasized by the green of her dress, sparked. They reminded him of sea glass. Her skin glistened and his hand moved on its own accord to rub her back, exposed by her backless dress. Would her skin feel as soft as it looked? It did, and he ran his hand up and down her spine. Her mouth curved in a small smile of bliss and he would have sworn she shivered, but whether it was from his touch or the slight chill in the church, he couldn’t say for certain. She leaned into his arm though, and he kept his hand on her back as he returned his attention to the front of the church.

When the mass and the ceremony ended, they went outside to await the bride and groom’s exit. After the dim light of the church, the bright sunlight blinded them momentarily and Lily groped for Gideon’s shoulder. He paused to assist her as the heat from the hot summer day hit him in the face. One of the attendants gave them each a bottle of bubbles and a moment later, the newly married couple emerged to a shower of bubbles and rose petals. Tony followed them out and stopped briefly to chat with Gideon and Lily.

What elements play into your settings and flesh them out?

X Is For…Exes

Jennifer talks about her characters’ exes…

I’m happily married with two kids. But the characters I create have very different situations than I do. And their ex-girlfriends, ex-husbands and ex-wives, do a number on my heroes and heroines.

In A Heart of Little Faith, Gideon, the hero, has been hurt by an ex-girlfriend who has convinced him that as a result of his accident, he’s not worth it. While his accident has left him in a wheelchair, it’s the psychological damage she caused that creates most of his problems and influences how he behaves with the story’s heroine, Lily.

The heroine of Skin Deep, Valerie, escaped an abusive marriage. Her husband actually died before the story began, but his abuse causes her to distrust men, especially when they drink.

Nathaniel is the hero of The Seduction of Esther. His ex-wife had a very public affair with the president of his former synagogue. As a result of her public indiscretion, he is gun-shy when it comes to any kind of public attention. Thus, he fights his attraction to the choir director of his new synagogue.