On Writing : Ask Me Anything (AMA) Wednesday 3/5 to Thursday 3/6- Beginners-Advanced, What Do You Want To Know About Writing & Publishing A Book? by Debra Holland

Hi, Debra Holland. I hope you're having a great day. Congratulations on being a New York Times and USA Today bestselling fiction author and all your accomplishments! Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions. I've been thinking about writing short stories again, and maybe a book, so I'm looking forward to this AMA! Do you have any tips for outlining a short story?

Hi Debra Holland - thank you so much for doing this AMA. Reading about how you've managed your books and trajectory was super informative. My question is when putting together a non-fiction book proposal for publishers what elements do you need to have in place to present the idea? Thank you!!

Hi Debra Holland - thanks so much for this AMA and spending your day with us. Question- what would you say is your best working marketing tool as an indie? Thanks in advance!

Hi Debra Holland! It's wonderful to meet you! I'm a self-published author and best-seller on Amazon, in awe of your accomplishments :) Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and answers.

Hi Debra Holland - thank you for taking time to do this AMA. As someone in the animation and audio production industry, I’m interested in collaborating with authors to expand their stories into animation, audiobooks, and other multimedia formats. What are the best ways for indie creatives like myself to connect with authors looking to adapt their work?

Hi Debra, thanks so much for doing AMA. I love this topic. I'm both a screenwriter and a traditionally published non-fiction author. Do you have any advice for moving from non-fiction to writing books?

Thank you Debra Holland for doing this AMA for us! You have achieved so much that is a honor! I am a screenwriter, but the first thing I wrote was a fiction romance with fourteen years old:)) I love to write and usually I do Creative Writing really short stories of one page! My question is more a curiosity, what do you feel more difficult: Self publishing/find a publisher or finding a producer. What journey has been more challenging for you and how you overcome your obstacles to achieve your goals? Thank youuu

Thank you for doing this, Debra! I’d love to know your top tip or tips for making a living as an indie fiction writer. I know it’s hard…but possible. What advice would you have for an indie author whose goal it is to make a living doing this?

Mrs, Holland. I have been writing for a few years. This has given me four complete works of fiction and a dozen works in progress. All that have read my manuscripts have loved them and suggest I publish or convert them into screenplays for tv or film. I have queried a couple hundred agents with the only results being offers to self publish. This I’m not interested in so have kept on my quest. I would ask you for advice.. as a published author what words of wisdom do you have for an aspiring one.

Maurice Vaughan, first, it's important to read short stories by different authors, focusing on the genre you want to write in.

As for an outline, that will depend on whether you tend to outline your work, meaning you're a "plotter" or just have an idea and start writing, meaning you're a "panster." I vary between one or the other, mostly falling into...I know generally what the story's about but not all the plot points.

In a short story, which I'm going to say is less than 20 thousand words although some would say 20k is a novella, (book lengths are described by word count, not by page count) you have to stay focused, because there's not room for meandering. (Like I just did with this very long sentence.)

I have two collections of short stories set in my 1890s Montana Sky world. Both books are Christmas stories. Montana Sky Christmas has 8 short stories, and I have 4 or 5 (can't remember anymore) in Sweetwater Springs Christmas, which also has stories from other authors set in my world and EXTENSIVELY edited by me. I've written a couple of fantasy shorts, again set in one of my worlds--The Gods' Dream Saga. My short stories might be romances but also might not. The most poignant one was about the boy whose parents died before Christmas.

So I can say that having a theme and/or common setting/ and/or world you've created makes the whole process MUCH easier.

If you write romance, it's helpful to have characters who already know each other. For example, perhaps they were high school sweethearts who broke up when they went to college. Or a secondary character who's familiar to you (and your readers if you have them.)

I can't give advice about short stories that aren't romances or fantasies or set at Christmas, or not set in one of my worlds. Maybe someone else can chime in.

I will say that if you really visualize your story all the way through, you can knock out your first draft in one or two days, which feels SO good when you know how writing a script or a book can drag on and on and on.

One of my stories, Red Stockings for Christmas, came when I was on a trail run with members of my (at the time) women's fitness bootcamp. We passed an old man coming the other direction and the woman next to me said, "That's (name.) He was a city councilman for many years and was known for always wearing red socks."

"Red Socks. Red Socks," I kept thinking, coming up with a cowboy character who always wore red stockings. And why he did. So the rest of the trail run I figured out my hero's part of the story. When we reached the turn to run back, I switched to thinking of the heroine's part of the story. Since I couldn't stop and take notes, I had to get everything clear in my head, including repeating the dialogue over and over to remember. By the time we were done, I had the story complete in my mind. Best trail run ever, because I didn't pay attention to how much I really disliked running three miles up and down hills.

Once home, a quick shower and protein drink and I began writing and finished the rough draft by that night.

Sam Sokolow, there's a very detailed and extensive proposal you need for a traditional publisher. Typically, they want the proposal to include three sample chapters, an outline of the complete book, and descriptions of each chapter. Also, you're going to have to research the other books on the topic that are well known/and or recent and compare and contrast, describing why yours will be new and different. In addition, you will need some kind of marketing plan, which includes the number of followers you have on social media, on your newsletter list, and any other type of platform you have.

Many publishers have specific guidelines and samples posted on their websites that you should follow. If they don't, try to track down some of their authors through their websites and ask them questions, or they might even be willing to share their proposals with you. (You could always offer them a Stage 32 freebie in exchange.) :)

My first agent sent me the latest proposal he'd recently sold to use as a template for the nonfiction book I was writing at the time.

There are also books and articles on writing proposals, so just Google them and see what comes up.

Now as a warning.... Going back to my experience with my first agent. He was representing my first two fiction books at the time when I called him to tell him about the nonfiction book I was happily and excitedly writing. He told me to "STOP WRITING THE BOOK! NONFICTION BOOKS ARE SOLD ON PROPOSAL."

So I came to a screeching halt on the book and switched gears to the TEDIOUS process of writing the proposal. He wasn't able to sell the proposal, so I never wrote the book.

In retrospect, I wish I'd written the book first. I was in the flow, something that I never got back with that book. At the time, there was no indie publishing with ebooks, although I could have always self-published the book to use with the clients in my psychotherapy practice or sell at my talks and seminars.

Nowadays, you can always self-publish your nonfiction book if the proposal doesn't sell, although, unless you have a big platform, nonfiction indie books don't tend to sell well.

You'll often receive feedback from editors or agents suggesting changes in your outline, which can save you from writing chapters in your book that might not be important or relevant to them. Personally, I'd rather write the book and then cut. But that choice is up to each author.

Thanks for the detailed answer, Debra Holland! You answered my next question about novellas too. Thanks! I'm definitely a plotter. I write myself into corners if I don't outline.

Leonardo Ramirez, marketing is an important component to selling books, both traditionally and indie. Many unpublished authors think by selling to a traditional publisher, they will do the marketing. Usually that's NOT the case. They may do some limited marketing. But they do expect the author to do their share. (Whatever the publisher verbally promises you may be meaningless. So get those promises in writing in your contract.) Your #1 selling tactic is your personal newsletter list. Even if you aren't yet published, start building a newsletter list. Those people are going to be your fans who usually will buy your book. Send out newsletters about your topic or your writing process or things about you or books you've read and recommend that are in your genre. 2. Build your social media platform. Pick at least one that you focus on. Mine is Facebook (but that's because I started there before there was Instagram and TikTok and my readers tend to be there.) 3. After you publish, you can run ads on Amazon or Facebook. But I would advise against that unless you have a series, where the ad brings the reader to book one, and then they are hooked and keep on going.

Thanks, Kat Spencer!

Cyrus Sales, before I can give you a good answer, I need to know what you mean when you say you are doing audio production. Also, what you had in mind with animation.

Jill Gambaro, are your screenplays fiction?

Sandra Isabel Correia, I'll answer a couple of your questions and then return and answer the final one, which will take longer. Self-publishing is easy for me. I have a team in place--editors, cover artist, formatter, webmistress (who also does my newsletters)--so all I have to do is write the book. (I'll post contact information for my team members, so you can approach them to work for you.)

I could probably find a traditional publisher fairly easily based on my body of work and my sales numbers. However,I know what I want to write, and I don't want to have a traditional editor forcing me to make changes that I don't want. I know people who've had their books AND their hearts ravaged by incompetent editors. I stopped publishing with Montlake because they wanted me to make the leap from historical stories in my series to contemporary ones. I do plan to write contemporary books in the series, but I had too many historical ones to write first. So if you look at the Amazon product page series bars of my "big" Montana books, you'll see 6 Montlake books and 4 indie books. Not shown on the series bar but in the series are my prequel books and the smaller ones or short story collections that fall in-between the big books. I have the complete book lists in the description of the books.

As for producers, so far, I'm just getting feedback through Stage 32 mentors and not yet making much of an effort to sell anything. I will say, I'm surprised by how bad I am at pitching, because I'm so good at public speaking and connecting with people. It's not because I haven't practiced and taken the webinars and utilized the Thursday pitching practices. But my pilots are so darn complex that they are hard to condense in a way to get across my stories. Sigh.

Sarah Foulke, basically, it's going to come down to the quality of your books and the amount of books you've written. Let me know how many books you have, the genre, and if they are series, and I'll give you a more detailed answer.

Mike Beavers, the hard truth is if you are getting that many rejections, your books may not be up to par. Most unpublished authors think their stories are great, and THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY DON'T KNOW. I've been writing for YEARS. And I still learn new things about the craft. (Thank you Stage 32 for the last few years of learning!)

I have my own publishing company. I haven't yet gotten a book, even from seasoned authors, that I haven't had to extensively edit.

The average reader won't necessarily be able to give exacting feedback. They just liked the story.

There are plenty of less than ethical small publishers or agents out there who will take your book, won't bother to edit it, slap on a bad cover, throw it up on Amazon and other sites, and not do any marketing. In the process, they lock you into a contract that's difficult to get out of. They might even charge (OVERCHARGE) you for the "opportunity" that costs them about $25. So a publisher or agent only willing to self-publish your book is one to avoid, and them wanting your book is virtually meaningless.

My suggestion is that you hire a professional editor to edit your books. Yes, that means you're putting out a chunk of money. But you will also be learning how to craft a better book AND making your current books better and more sellable.

If you can't afford an editor, then swap editing manuscripts with other unpublished WRITERS. After each revision, swap with a different author. Actually, you might start with the swaps and then move on to an editor.

You can also join a critique group and receive feedback.

The less the editor you are paying has to deal with obvious flaws, the more he/she/they can drill down on different aspects of the story.

Thanks so much Debra Holland and I agree. I was published once traditionally and learned some things along the way. I like the idea of having a team working alongside you as an indie.

Thank you for doing this, Debra Holland. When it comes to publishers, is it standard practice now for publishers to ask for film/tv rights of a book they want to publish?

Debra Holland, thank you for sharing your time with us today! For first-time authors, what are the essential formatting guidelines for a polished manuscript—such as font size, spacing, and margins? Are there any specific resources or tools you recommend to ensure their manuscript meets industry standards before submitting to reps or publishers?

Debra,

Thank you for your response! To date I have written a two-part series, a 5-book series, a stand-alone novel, and a stand-alone novella. All self-published. I admit I haven’t marketed them hardly at all. I’m starting to learn more about that and have seen an uptick in sales. The feedback I did get was positive. I’m currently writing the second book in my new series (planning to do another 5-book series, but we’ll see).

I have heard from others as well that volume of books, as well as quality of the writing, and consistency putting our new material, is essential. It’s encouraging to hear you say the same and welcome any other feedback or advice you have!

Ashley Renee Smith, once digital submissions came into usage, the strictness of formatting your manuscript relaxed. Basically, you want Times New Roman font, double spaced, one inch margins, page numbers on the upper right, and one space between sentences (not the old two spaces.)

What's the most important is that your book is error free! Give it to other people to read and mark up, so it doesn't only have your eyes on it.

One of the best editing tips I can give is to have your computer read your manuscript to you a page or two at a time while you follow along and make corrections. I do this at two points in my process. Once before I send the book to my developmental editor and as the final edit before I send the book to my formatter.

Most traditional publishers won't want a full manuscript. They'll want the first three chapters and a synopsis of the whole book.

Agents, editors, and publishers usually publish their guidelines on their submissions websites. So FOLLOW them! They won't even look at ones they can tell at a glance haven't followed the guidelines.

Francisco Castro, publishers will usually ask for everything they can. But these rights are all negotiable. There might be a good reason to give up film and television rights if the publisher has a division that focuses of pitching their books to Hollywood. That's something to research about the publisher. Certainly put any promises into the contract. Always have an entertainment attorney familiar with publishing look at the contract.

Sarah Foulke, if you haven't already, I'd try to get more five star reviews on your books. One easy way is when readers comment on your social media posts or message you or email you that they enjoyed the book, profusely thank them. (I usually write that they have made my day with their complement, which is a true statement.) Then ask them (if they haven't already) to go to Amazon or wherever they bought the book and leave a review saying what they wrote in the comment. Most people will be fine with doing so and will also continue to do so with future books.

When I recognize a name on a review on Amazon as someone from my social media, I message them and thank them for the review and say how much their review meant to me.

Having more five star reviews makes it more likely people will buy your books. It also makes it more likely that promotion sites such as Bookbub (where you pay to advertise a discounted book) will accept your submission. Bookbub is really choosy, so it's great (although expensive) if they accept your book.

Only do Bookbub and other promotional sites for a series book because you want to make your money back and then some. One book is usually not enough.

My other suggestion if you haven't already is to utilize the back matter in your ebooks. Make sure you have an excerpt from the next book and a preorder link to buy the book. Also have a website link where readers can sign up for your newsletter list. As I wrote in an earlier comment, a newsletter list is your number one promotional tool.

I've mentioned that I'd make a list of my team members:

Developmental editor: Louella Nelson. Lou was my first writing teacher and has been the developmental editor for all but two of my books. Warning, she's expensive! lounelson1111@gmail.com

Line editor/proofer: Linda Carroll Bradd. (Linda also does developmental edits.) lustreediting.com

Cover artist for my fantasy series: Lex Valentine. winter@winterheart.com or Facebook.com/winterheartdesign (The cover artist for my Montana Sky books isn't taking on new clients.)

Formatter: Kari Trumbo. kari@karitrumbo.com

Entertainment Attorney. Maggie Marr. maggiemarrlegal.com

(My original attorney has since retired. I haven't (yet) personally used Maggie, but she's a friend and would be who I'd tap if I needed an entertainment attorney.)

There are probably plenty of other people that you can utilize from Stage 32. April can add any to this list.

Thanks for sharing the list, Debra Holland! How do you feel about short story contests?

I loved your answers Debra Holland and thank you for posting your team members contacts! You are your books, no doubt ;)) If you need anything from Lisbon, Portugal, I am here :)) Keep rocking both worlds, you are amazing:))

Debra Holland Hi Debra. Thanks for taking time to speak to us today. I'm an award-winning screenwriter who's turningmy scripts into novels. I'm on my first one (p. 35 of manuscript). It's a thriller. Any advice for the first manuscript. Should I self-publish (my manager is also a self-publisher). What kind of money should I expect to make?

You and I are kindred spirits on so many things. And now I know what I am! I'm definitely a pantser :) for my books and life. I used to be a planner in life, but after those plans were obliterated by a few things, I truly learned to fly by the seat of my pants and be fine either way—and happy! And that’s how I’ve always written my music and books. I thought I was weird. I didn’t know there was a term for it. Hahaha.

Thank you also for your list! I wish I had a team and could just write! That’s awesome. I’m a proofreader and editor (and formatter) as well, for anyone out there needing that. I love helping people polish their works or get past blocks (in writing or life). I resonated with your style of coming up with things while running—I do that too! And your loss of that book because someone disrupted your flow—booo!

I also laughed at your "I'm surprised by how bad I am at pitching because I'm so good at public speaking and connecting with people." I’m the same way! It’s quite irritating. I’ve written and self-published three fiction books and two self-help books (though I did technically have a publisher for one of those—it still didn’t do well; what you said about marketing was so true). That has been the hardest part for me. I understand the concept of building a list, but that’s like pitching, and it hasn’t been my strength. The books have been well received by the few who have read them :) That makes me happy. Since I wrote them because I was inspired, perhaps one day I will crack the code on marketing them and get them into more hands. I don't know if I have any other questions . . . you already gave such great answers. I will be adding your books to my reading list. When did you write your first book and what inspired it? Looking back, was there anything you would have done differently when publishing?

Maurice Vaughan, I think writing contests are a good way to get feedback. I wouldn't enter one without feedback, unless you wanted one of the prizes or the contest was prestigious. But first, I'd make sure my story had been thoroughly critiqued, so it had a better chance of placing/winning.

Thank you, Sandra Isabella Correia! I think I answered the last part of your question in my last response to Kat Spencer.

Anthony McBride, you're sort of jumping the gun. First you have to put out a good book. Writing a book is different from writing a screenplay, because you must include interior thoughts and emotions as well as scene setting.

Unless you have a big platform and readers eager for your book, you probably won't make much just self-publishing one book.

Thrillers usually lend themselves to series, which make more money. Your protagonist(s) can solve problem after problem. So as you write the first one, think in terms of more books.

But I'd not just launch with one book. I'd have at least two-three already written and launching about two weeks apart, with the next one almost ready to go and on preorder.

Kat Spencer, I wrote Wild Montana Sky in 1998-2000. The idea came from by dating a young cowboy (and those are rare in Orange County, CA) and we had nothing in common. But we had a lot of fun. At some point I thought, "100 years ago in the West, who he is and who I am might just work." From there I started playing with a story. In 2001, Wild Montana Sky won the Romance Writers of America (RWA) Golden Heart award for unpublished authors. That win opened up a lot of doors for me, including leading me to my first agent.

I've thankfully made few mistakes in my publishing journey, mostly because I had a LONG apprenticeship in learning about writing and publishing and networking from RWA and other writers groups and organizations.

(Sidenote.) If you write romance or stories with romances in them, I suggest you join RWA. (rwa.org) And/or if you live in or near Orange County, CA, Orange County Romance Writers (OCRW.) (ocromancewriters.org) OCRW often does their meetings and activities online, so you don't have to be local to join and attend.

RWA and OCRW have mottos that strongly suggest the power of networking and helping out other authors. I owe my success to the people I've met along the way, because I've learned from them and/or been helped by them. For example, my whole team came from fellow RWA members. Stage 32 provides another way to make friends and contacts. But you must GIVE as much or more than you RECEIVE. This AMA is one of my ways of giving to the Stage 32 writing community.

Now back to my mistakes. I started to type out details, but realized they aren't relevant to today's publishing world, and so I will just mention the one that always applies to our endeavors.

Around 2005, I stopped writing fiction. I'd had two agents try to sell my books to the results of "Good books, don't fit the market" feedback. Discouraged, I decided to focus on nonfiction, because I thought "it's too much work to write a fiction book that doesn't sell." At that time I had two Montana Sky books and 60 pages of book three. Two Gods' Dream Saga books. And one huge science fiction/space opera/romance.

If I could go back in time, I'd tell my younger self not to give up. To keep writing in those series so I'd have more books to self-publish when the time came. I'd remind myself that the one important thing I can control on the journey to any goal is to be persistent and not give up.

Wow! Thank you Debra Holland for that reply and tip about RWA. I have written a few romance novels (a mystery romance and a fantasy adventure with a love story.) I shall look into that :) Your last tip at the end was gold. That is so cool that you won the Golden Heart award. Congratulations on that and on all of the doors it opened. Thank you for giving back to this community. We ALL appreciate it immensely!

You did Debra Holland :)) Thank you so much! I love your spirit :))

Thanks for the answer, Debra Holland. I'll definitely get feedback on my short story before entering contests.

Thank you SO much for answering my questions and being generous with your advice, tips, and wisdom! I really appreciate your feedback! Debra Holland

Debra Holland I do post production audio (sound design, mixing and mastering) and it would be either 2D animation or 3D animation .

Thank you for your reply, Debra Holland!!! Good luck on your writing endeavors!!!

Cyrus Sales, I don't know anything about animation, so I don't have much advice for you beyond contacting authors where you've READ their books and LOVED them, mentioning certain details that only a reader would know. Then say you have a vision about what you could do with animating that book or series and would they be interested in a conversation.

Successful authors get a lot of solicitations and the generic ones are really annoying. For example, I recently received one wanting to translate certain of my books into German. A quick Amazon search would have shown her that those books are already available in German. Or when they mention what they could do to promote my book (singular and no title), when a quick search would have shown that I have almost 40 books, and if you're going to pluck one out of the bunch, you'd better have a valid reason why that one.

As for audiobooks...I suggest going to acx.com and looking through the narrator profiles and clips, focusing on newer narrators, especially those whose samples could be improved by your skills. Or go to Audible.com and find narrators who tend to have low stars. Then send a TACTFUL email, starting with a compliment about their voice or the way they portrayed a certain character, and then pointing out that the sound quality could be improved in whichever way you could help.

Kat Spencer, Sandra Isabel Corieia, Maurice Vaughn, Sarah Folk, and Francisco Castro, thank you. I enjoyed "chatting."

You're welcome, Debra Holland. I enjoyed chatting too. Thanks again for taking the time to answer our questions. This AMA is really helpful!

It was a pleasure Debra Holland ! I wish you all the best and I am cheering for you :)) We love to chat :))