Category: James Alexander

Posts about me, author James Alexander

I’m in the process of making wine and it occurred to me, wine and writing have much in common! I’m not referring to drinking wine while writing – though that works well sometimes too. What I am referring to is the wine making process. Here’s why:

1)    Ingredients
Like all the ingredients that go into wine making, so do many pieces go into building a story. We all start with an idea, then another idea, then as the story is thought out, many ideas – all going into one masterpiece.

2)    Mix it all together
For wine, yeast is added. For writing, throw in some catalyst ideas to make things interesting. Mix it all up….juggle the ideas around….start writing!

3)    Take a reading
A tool is used for wine – a hydrometer. It measures sugar content to track how sugar is being converted to alcohol. What tools do we use as writers? There are many out there. Read what has been written and think about where the story is going. I like to write all my ideas and let the story guide me. Other writers may use outlines. This step is to evaluate the next steps in the story.

4)    Let it sit
The 1st draft of the story is complete. The wine is fermenting nicely – now time needs to take over to do the job.

5)    Racking
After a period of time, it’s time to rack the fermenting wine to another vessel. This removes the wine from the sediment of dropped yeast. A story needs to be revisited after it’s been setting for a month or so. New ideas will appear, errors will stand out. The story may seem like junk at this point. The wine doesn’t taste good either! Time to edit/revise!

Repeat….
Repeat…..
Repeat….

With each stage, the wine gets clearer, brighter, and smoother…as does the story.

6)    Aging
After numerous rackings, the wine is clear and smells great! A story has been honed and errors have been corrected. Now it’s time to reach out to agents or get ready to self-publish. This takes time. The longer wine sits in bulk, the better it gets. Did the story land a publisher or ready to self-publish? Time for step 7! If not, what’s wrong with waiting a little longer to make things even better?

7)    Bottling
This is the last step to the process in wine making. The wine is ready for bottling and is siphoned to smaller bottles. Labels are glued to the bottle and the wine is ready for drinking (or bottle aging). The story is with an agent or has been self-published. Now everyone can enjoy what has been created! (or hate it – we all have different tastes).

After much thought, I’ve decided not to publish “The Choice” on Amazon and work to publish my story traditionally. I am going to try to find an agent to represent my work.

Why am I doing this?

Deep down, I have a desire to publish traditionally. It would be amazing to have my story on the bookshelves of brick and mortar stores. While Amazon has been a great way for me to get my stories into reader’s hands, it’s not the same as a traditional publisher.

I have learned how to write a story, suffering through MANY edits on my own, manage obtaining cover art, format my book to work for Amazon and Smashwords, and plan a release strategy. All of this information is not lost and will help me as I work to be a stronger writer.

While self-publishing is certainly rewarding, the key issue I see in the process is that unless an author is willing and able to hire professionals (cover artists, book formatting, editors, marketers), the amount of work it takes to make a self-published novel reach many with the chance of being paid, is slim. Sure, an author can hold a free drive and give away thousands of copies of their work for free, the chances of doing the same, but paid, for many Amazon authors is small. My story, “Conduit: The Beginning” was downloaded 10,000+ on a free drive I had. It was gratifying knowing that so many people downloaded my story, but I would have loved if I got a buck for each download. Greedy? Maybe – but hey, I put a ton of work into it.

My major flaw in self-publishing has been the inability to hire a professional editor. The cost of an editor on a novel of 65,000 words would run roughly $1,200+. Add in a professional cover, $200. Throw in book formatting, $200. Don’t forget another $400 or so for marketing. So, on the low side, the cost of self-publishing falls around $2,000. Now, I didn’t hire for formatting, and I did a lot of marketing myself. I admit, I didn’t have enough for a professional editor – unless you’re an established author, who does? Again, $2,000 to self-publish – why is this a factor? Because this is what publishing traditionally will do for an author. Unless an author is willing to shell out AT LEAST that amount of money on a book for self-publishing, he or she will not have as good a product as a traditionally published book.

Am I never going to self-publish again? No, I will. Self-publishing has it’s advantages – the biggest being: complete freedom. I will go about self-publishing a story differently though. I will make sure I have the capital for professional editing (yes, I admit, it has to be done), cover design, and marketing. I’ve pat myself on the back for starting with no understanding of the self-publishing business to learning each step of the process. It’s unrealistic for me to take on all aspects of the industry, all while raising two kids, and holding a full-time job. Publishers have teams dedicated to every piece of the puzzle.

So, onward for me and into the slushpile. My story rocks though. 🙂

Posted 9 years ago by JAlexander

I have entered my story, “The Choice” to the Kindle Scout program.  With enough nominations, Amazon will publish my book.

An excerpt of around 5,000 words is available for review. With your help, “The Choice” could be up for publication in a month!

Please nominate me (You get the book free if I win!) using this link: The Choice

The Choice Final

Thank You!