10/31/2018 0 Comments Hocus Pocus Writing TagHello! My name is Heather Kirchhoff. I am the Young Adult author of Fading and The Last Night. Since it’s Halloween, I decided to do the Hocus Pocus Writing Tag that was created by Kim Chance and Destiny Murtaugh. So let’s get right into it!
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10/24/2018 0 Comments Behind the Book TagHello! My name is Heather Kirchhoff. I am the Young Adult author of Fading and The Last Night. Last week I joined in with the Behind the Book Tag by Mani Lynn, so I figured I’d share my answers with you today.
Day one: What is your book about? What is the genre? The Last Night is a Young Adult realistic fiction novel. It’s about a young girl trying to find her way. Sarah’s world changes forever when she receives unexpected news. Now, she’s stuck between the past and present. Between what was and what is. Day two: Was the story inspired by anything in real life? Yes. Yes it was. I almost lost someone in my family to suicide when I was a freshman in high school. Eight months after this event happened, one of my classmates killed himself. I realized that I needed to write a book about suicide and depression as soon as possible. Day three: Why did you write the story? I wrote The Last Night hoping it’d bring awareness to suicide, depression and bullying. I feel like mental illnesses needs to be talked about more. And taken seriously. Day four: What do you hope to make readers think or feel? I hope my book inspires someone to keep going. To never give up. No matter what life throws their way, I hope they keep fighting. Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! I post every Wednesday. My debut novel is about a girl struggling to cope after a love one dies. It deals with bullying, depression and suicide. You can check out The Last Night here! Feel free to check me out on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. I’d love to interact with you! 10/17/2018 0 Comments Don't CompareHello! My name is Heather Kirchhoff. I am the Young Adult author of Fading and The Last Night. Today I’m wanting to talk about comparison.
It’s so easy to go on Instagram or Twitter and see another author posting about his/her success. For you to see how far they’ve come, and wondering if you’ll ever get there. Or how to get there. I know I have. I do that quite a bit, honestly. You shouldn’t. If you’re starting out, you can’t expect to be on the top with your debut novel. Or even your second or third. Sometimes it takes years of writing—of working on a platform—before you’ll ever get there. Focus on your own journey. The successful authors you see online have been where you are now. They’ve also struggled. Making writing a career doesn’t happen overnight. I wish it did. Don’t be discouraged if your new release wasn’t a hit like you hoped. Don’t allow that to make you not try as hard. Keep going. Keep posting. Keep creating content. Someday you’ll look back and realize how far you’ve come. I know it’s difficult not to. I’ve been there. I published a book when I didn’t know what I was doing. If you don’t work hard, then your book won’t get out there. You’ll end up disappointed. You’ll wonder what the point is. I’ve been there. I’m trying to find my path as well. I’ve started using other authors I see online, or in bookstores, as motivation. I want to get to where they are. It may not be today, or tomorrow. It may take me five more years, if not longer. But I’m determined to get there. I hope you are too. Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! I post every Wednesday. My debut novel is about a girl struggling to cope after a love one dies. It deals with bullying, depression and suicide. You can check out The Last Night here! Feel free to check me out on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. I’d love to interact with you! 10/10/2018 0 Comments Beware of ScammersHello! My name is Heather Kirchhoff. I am the Young Adult author of Fading and The Last Night. Today I’m wanting to talk about a question I saw the other day in a group. It’s actually not the first time I’ve seen it either.
Are you supposed to pay a publisher to read, edit, format, or create a cover for your work? The answer is no. Publishers do not request money from you upfront. In fact, they send you an advance. Their money comes out of your book sales. You should never have to send money over for them to do something. They pay to have everything taken care of when it comes to your book. They are buying the rights to your work, so it’s their responsibility to take care of the expenses. Of course, that’s only if you’re traditionally publishing. Self-publishing is when you’d have to pay for all of the things you’ll need for your book. That’s an entirely different story, honestly. Doing it on your own costs a bit of money, although you still need to be care with who you hire. But if you’re not going down that route, then your money should be going in to marketing. If an agent or publisher wants you to give them money, then you need to run. Get out of that situation. You will be sorry in the end if you go through with it. Research them. See who their authors are. They’re scammers. You more likely won’t see the money back. I’ve heard of multiple authors going through these things. Here’s a list of things you should avoid:
You need to ask questions. Talk to your fellow authors and see what they think. If you feel like you’re being expected to spend too much or your instincts is screaming at you to bolt the other direction, then listen. You could be saving yourself a headache and your cash. Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! I post every Wednesday. My debut novel is about a girl struggling to cope after a love one dies. It deals with mental illness. You can check out The Last Night here! Feel free to check me out on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. I’d love to interact with you! Hello! My name is Heather Kirchhoff. I am the Young Adult author of Fading and The Last Night. Today I’m wanting to talk about things I wish I knew as a teenager.
For those who don’t know, I published my first book when I was seventeen. Now, when I look back, I realized that I probably shouldn’t have. While I’m proud of my book, I feel like I didn’t know about a lot of things that’s essential for publishing. Here’s what I’ve learned since then:
Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! I post every Wednesday. My debut novel is about a girl struggling to cope after a love one dies. It deals with mental illness. You can check out The Last Night here! |
About Me:Hello! My name is Heather Kirchhoff. I am a Young Adult author. I want to give out writing advice and help other authors avoid the mistakes I made. I post twice a month for now. Archives
April 2020
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