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One big leap for this writer… June 26, 2012

Posted by mattfarmer in books and reading, writing.
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I am writing this blog post after I put the finishing little buff of the arm sleeve to my book, The Girl From Out of Town. This is very exciting for me, very scary, very, LARGE. This weekend, I am releasing my first novel to the world. While people have tasted a free sample, and many of those people loved it and pestered me for the whole book, this will be the first time I have ever released a significant body of work.

I have written 9 other novels through Nanowrimo and various friends and family have read them and said I should publish them, and while I nodded my head and said- sure, just one more re-write, I have never been at this point before. No more re-writes. No more telling someone that I am just doing a bit more editing. This is it. The book I have sitting on my hard drive, and on my USB key, and emailed to three different email addresses and a friend, is about to be published, by me.

I am quite nervous, I must admit. I have invested a lot of time and energy into this, and it is something that I created, so I do hope people like it. I am trying to ready myself for the haters, reading advice such as this – ‘Someone will hate your book‘ and this one ‘It’s okay if you’re not perfect‘. I like the second one because it mentions a person who afraid of failure they never got published. That would be me, some time ago…

There is another post I have read about people hating your book, and how inevitable it is, and something about how there are people who hate puppies, so like, if there are people who hate puppies of COURSE there will be people who hate your book.

It is also going to be a relief to get this book out there, so I can then move onto the next book. I am not one of these people who can have multiple writing projects on the go. Mind you, having said that, I have had the novel, 2 websites and a safety guide on the go, at the same time, in past weeks. So, who knows.

Tonight I helped one of my editors create a Facebook page (And by help I pretty much made her do it), and from there, conversation lead to different ways to market your book. Scarlett, the lady who designed the cover for my book, is going on a Virtual Book Tour, her tour dates are HERE. I am thinking of doing something similar as well. We discussed book trailers, especially after I witnessed an awesome 30 second YouTube ad for an editor in Sydney, with grungy guitar riffs. I won’t link to the video because, sadly, he has put typoes into his description, and I would like to give him the chance to edit himself before we all go and see it. But, a girl I know who is a multimedia creator is interested in working on a book trailer, so that could be loads of fun.

So, this is going to be a crazy couple of days. Investigate B&N and Amazon, put a new page on my website for the book, discuss marketing options, re-brand my professional writing self, umpire basketball, go to a house warming, read tarot cards. OH MY GOSH! Busy little vegemite!

A baker’s dozen June 18, 2012

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I have been counting down to the end of June. At the moment, it is 13 days until July. I have been doing this through the profile picture on Facebook. So far, only 4 people have asked me what it is I am doing. I might have to make it more obvious.

So, 13 days until I launch my book. Is it finished? Gosh no. I will read it in the coming months and years and think- wow, if only I added that. Perhaps I needed to add a scene with a city square so I can include it later. Oh, wouldn’t it have been awesome if I had thought of that…  And it is not finished in the sense that I am just going through the final editing notes. When your editor suggests you write MORE because she wants to see MORE description, well, who doesn’t like to write more? I have this world lavishly coloured in my imagination, and now I get to dip the paint brush back into my mind and dab it on the page again? I just might do that, thank you very much!

So, with the creative side of the book coming to an end, sadly, I am now shifting to the marketing and selling of the book, which is fun in a different kind of way? How do I represent it on the web? How do I get the message out? How do I get the message to lots of people? Where do I sell my book and what do I need to sell my book? So, I am getting the talented  to help build a landing page for my book which ties in thematically with the feel and look of the book as it is now. It will be hosted on my website and then direct you to where the book can be sold. I am also thinking of getting other marketing material from her, but we will see how far the coin stretches.

I am also re-launching myself as a professional writer. I am re-branding myself. While I am, indeed, Matthew Farmer, Copy Writer, I am much more. I have edited and helped re-write a website or two, I have audited a website from a content point of view. I have written a tender document, helped with presentations and report writing, which is much more than ‘just’ copy writing. So I am re-branding myself to reflect this. I am hoping to do this on the 1st of July as well.

BIG DAY, huh?

There will, of course, be related marketing surrounding that, with new business cards, a new-look website and such; promotional and thank you gifts, of which I have been given some great ideas. But, as you know, marketing costs money, but you have to spend money to make money. Well, we will see.

It has been such a busy month, with just under half of it to go. I am going to be full of nervous energy in the coming weeks, and during July it is going to be crazy!

I like this kind of crazy.

No 1 on my to do list- complete all of my to do list. June 3, 2012

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I am terrible at to do lists. I am great at making them, but then ticking all of the boxes? Not so good. Number 2 on my to do list is finish editing my book. I’ve now got the detailed editing notes for Act 3, and I am going through it. Some macro stuff to come, with a bit of re-writing (being told you need to write more descriptions? I like that kind of advise…) So, I will get this book finished and ready to launch. Yes I will. I think I have tried twice to get it to launch and STUFF has happened. Paid work demanding my time, preventing me from doing editing work. Computer issues, sickness, gobbledocks . It is annoying me, I will admit. I WANT to get this thing out there, but I don’t want to get something out which is flawed.

But then, as a writer, you are always thinking of ways to improve what you have, make it better, just add a little bit more. So, once the micro and macro is done, and a few other dot points on my list is done, the book will be released unto the world!

Alongside the novel, I am also re-branding myself. In a discussion earlier this year with a breakfast group I am a part of, I talked about the concept of me as a writer, as a business, as a product. While I am a writer, I am THE writer, advice from others is to brand myself something larger, so I have room to move and grow. A lot of thought and imagination has gone into this, and I am in the process of doing so.

Re-branding is not just a case of- think of funky name get a logo and WaheY! I have used 2 sample groups to test out names, a graphic designer helped with logo concepts. I am now going to re-do some of my website to match the band, new business cards, all of that.

And then there is my newsletter I am slowly putting together. Yes, I am going to launch a newsletter. It will be all about writing. I can hear a few claps in the audience, but not much else. But writing is so much, there is so much of it in the world that sometimes even I forget that SOMEONE had to write that. Even the spam messages I get for my blog, somewhere, someone had to write that. So, I want to highlight my writing, but I also want to show what other forms of writing is out there, news about the industry, movements and opinions about writery stuff.

But, all in good time.

Right now, the next thing on my to-do list is some shopping and some lunch.