11/7/2018 0 Comments Self-publishing Pros and ConsHello! My name is Heather Kirchhoff. I am the Young Adult author of Fading and The Last Night. Today I’m wanting to talk about the pros and cons of self-publishing.
For those that don’t know, I am a self-published author. This is my opinion. What are the pros, you might ask? The reason why I chose this path was simply because I wanted to be in charge of everything. It’s great being able to pick your cover, or formatting. To be able to hire the editor you want to work with. To be able to decide your release date. There’s really no limits to this path. You can take as long as you’d like with the entire process. Just make sure you’re doing it right. Don’t rush into publishing. Take your time with writing and editing. Rewrite if you have to. Don’t ignore it if it’s needed. You can also control where you publish the book. You can control if your story gets into bookstores, or libraries. You can control having book signings wherever you want. You can share as much of it as you’d like with excerpts. You also get to decide how many books you send to reviewers. Now the cons… While all of the things I mentioned above are great, there’s also a downside. You’d have to do all of the marketing yourself. It’s on you as the author to make sure the book gets in front of people. There’s all kinds of ways to do that, though. There’s so many marketing websites. You can talk to your local libraries and see about getting a display for however long they decide. You can do giveaways. You can donate to someone else’s giveaway. You can have blogs post your cover reveal or about the book on release day. Just to name a few. Another con is that you have to pay for everything. You can’t edit the book yourself and then just publish it. You shouldn’t create your own cover—unless, of course, you’re a professional cover designer. You need a gorgeous cover on your book in order for it to sell. A lot of readers won’t read a book that has a terrible cover. There’s been so many times that I wanted to read a book based off of the cover alone. I had no idea what the story was about, but I bought it anyway. That should be your goal. But you also need to make sure the storyline isn’t terrible, or that it’s obvious you didn’t hire someone to look over your work. You think someone is going to keep reading even though the grammar is bad? Or the fact that there’s random words in weird places? Or when sentences cut off for no reason? No. They will put the book down. That’s why it’s important to hire a professional editor. Publishing a book isn’t cheap, but it’s definitely necessary if you’re wanting to become a full-time author. Or have success in any way. Plus, you more likely don’t have a team in the beginning. It may take a while to find the right people to work with as well. It took me a few tries before I found my cover designer. You just have to keep going. Don’t give up on your dream. 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 depression, suicide and bullying. 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!
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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!
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! 9/26/2018 0 Comments Mental IllnessesHello! My name is Heather Kirchhoff. I am the Young Adult author of Fading and The Last Night. My birthday is today, and I feel like it’s fitting to talk about something that’s very important to me. Mental illnesses.
I wrote a true story about my struggles with depression and anxiety that was published in Invisible, Not Imagined. I’m nervous to be sharing my story, but I didn’t let that stop me. I want to make others feel like they’re not alone. Plus I feel like they’re not talked about a lot, and it needs to be. Mental health is looked down on constantly. Those who don’t deal with it thinks we’re just making it all up. That we can stop feeling a certain way. There are some people who even go as far as believe that the reason we’re having issues with shootings and all that is because of mental illnesses. I disagree. Just because someone has a mental illness does not mean they’re going to harm someone else. Yet there are people who would tell you otherwise. These people must be lucky enough to not have to deal with depression, anxiety, eating disorders, insomnia, claustrophobia, and so on. Bullying is another issue. Children are getting bullied, and this needs to be put to a stop. It’s not okay to make fun of someone else. You don’t know how they’re feeling, or what they’re dealing with outside of school. You don’t know, so why bully someone? Some people are strong enough to take it. They’ll just ignore you. Pretend that you’re not talking to them. But there are others who believe they are not strong enough. They will believe everything you say about them. Think they’re ugly? A loser? They’ll start to believe that as well. You know what that’s going to more likely lead to? Suicide. Now, of course, it’s not always because of bullying. Someone may have been dealt with a hard hand when it comes to life. It’s still not an excuse, though. Reach out for help. And tell your story. We need to spread kindness, not misery. We need to lift others up, not tear them down. Just keep going, even when life gets hard. I know how difficult that is. I understand it. Never give up. 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! Hello! My name is Heather Kirchhoff. I am the Young Adult author of Fading and The Last Night. My birthday is today, and I feel like it’s fitting to talk about something that’s very important to me. Mental illnesses. I wrote a true story about my struggles with depression and anxiety that was published in Invisible, Not Imagined. I’m nervous to be sharing my story, but I didn’t let that stop me. I want to make others feel like they’re not alone. Plus I feel like they’re not talked about a lot, and it needs to be. Mental health is looked down on constantly. Those who don’t deal with it thinks we’re just making it all up. That we can stop feeling a certain way. There are some people who even go as far as believe that the reason we’re having issues with shootings and all that is because of mental illnesses. I disagree. Just because someone has a mental illness does not mean they’re going to harm someone else. Yet there are people who would tell you otherwise. These people must be lucky enough to not have to deal with depression, anxiety, eating disorders, insomnia, claustrophobia, and so on. Bullying is another issue. Children are getting bullied, and this needs to be put to a stop. It’s not okay to make fun of someone else. You don’t know how they’re feeling, or what they’re dealing with outside of school. You don’t know, so why bully someone? Some people are strong enough to take it. They’ll just ignore you. Pretend that you’re not talking to them. But there are others who believe they are not strong enough. They will believe everything you say about them. Think they’re ugly? A loser? They’ll start to believe that as well. You know what that’s going to more likely lead to? Suicide. Now, of course, it’s not always because of bullying. Someone may have been dealt with a hard hand when it comes to life. It’s still not an excuse, though. Reach out for help. And tell your story. We need to spread kindness, not misery. We need to lift others up, not tear them down. Just keep going, even when life gets hard. I know how difficult that is. I understand it. Never give up. 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! 9/19/2018 0 Comments ProcrastinationHello! My name is Heather Kirchhoff. I am the Young Adult author of Fading and The Last Night. Today I’m wanting to talk about procrastination. I’m doing it right now, honestly. I’m writing this blog post on Wednesday at eight seventeen PM. Why would I admit that? It’s simple, really. I don’t want to pretend that I have everything figured out, or that, as much as I would like to, pretend I already have blog posts written for the next month. I don’t. I planned to, but life doesn’t always work out that way.
I doubt I’m alone with this. I doubt you’re shaking your head, thinking I should get on my game. Or maybe you are. Who knows? For those who aren’t—for those who are wishing they had it all together like someone they see posting online appears to—it’s okay. Not everyone does. I’m a major procrastinator. I wish I wasn’t. I beat myself up for it, but what good does that do? To make myself feel bad? It doesn’t help anything. It’s hard not to procrastinate. At least, for me it is. I’d rather do something else, like read. Go for a walk. Or do housework. Give my dog a bath. Clean out the fish tank. Those are things that need to be done too, right? The only problem with that is I’m not getting my lifelong goal done. My goal is to be a successful author. To write the best books possible. To share my stories with you guys. I’ve started forcing myself to stay up when my alarm goes off on the days I have to work. Instead of laying back down after eating my breakfast and brushing my teeth, I decided it was time to get ready for work and write afterwards. I usually have about twenty to thirty minutes until I have to leave. That’s plenty of time to get a little bit written. Plus I feel like I accomplished something, and it isn’t even seven AM yet! I think one reason someone would procrastinate is because they’re not sure what to do. Maybe they have a task that is huge to accomplish. Like writing a book. Creating a business. Maybe you don’t know how to go about it. I know I’m in that boat. You know what I’ve realized? Research is helpful. Knowing what you’re talking about. It’s also helpful to talk it out with someone else—or multiple people. In the end, if you want your dream bad enough, you'll work for it. It may take a while, and may feel like you'll never get there. Trust me, you will at some point. One day you're going to look back and realize how far you've come. 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! 9/12/2018 0 Comments My MissionHey guys! My name is Heather Kirchhoff. I am the Young Adult author of Fading and The Last Night. Today I’m wanting to talk about my mission. Yes, I do have a mission when it comes to writing, other than producing the best book that I can. I wrote The Last Night hoping to inspire someone to keep going, to never give up no matter how hard it may get. I published it hoping it’d bring awareness to bullying and suicide. I also published it hoping that someone would realize they’re not alone—everyone struggles with something. Honestly, that’s what I want for all of my books. I also want to talk about things that you don’t hear a lot about in books or movies. I want to bring awareness to things we don't hear about very often. I feel like it’s needed. Everyone needs to see a character that has flaws, that has an illness, whether it’s mental or not. They need to be able to see that just because they’re struggling with something doesn’t mean they can’t overcome whatever they put their minds to. I want to inspire the dreamers. I want to make someone see that their dreams are not out of reach. That they can do whatever they set their minds to. If that’s all I accomplish in my career, then it’d be worth it. Let’s not forget that I would like to make people emotional while reading my stories. I want to evoke the kind of emotions that I felt while finishing up Twilight. I want to cause the kind of amazement that I felt when reading Vampire Academy. I want readers to love my story and at least a few of the characters like I did with Evermore. There’s so much that I would like to see happen for my books, but none of it will happen if I fail with my mission. 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! 9/5/2018 0 Comments The Moment I KnewHey guys! My name is Heather Kirchhoff. I am the Young Adult author of Fading and The Last Night. Today I’m wanting to talk about the moment I knew I wanted to become an author. It’s been about eight years now since this realization hit me. I was thirteen years old at the time. I had just started enjoying reading that year, actually.
It was summertime and I was almost done with Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. The ending had me shaken and so emotional that I didn’t know what to do with myself. I guess you could say I was a little amazed at how it affected me, and it got me thinking. I really wanted to make others feel the way I was feeling in that moment. I wanted to make them shocked, nervous, and maybe even a tad bit heartbroken, depending on the novel. I wanted to create a story that readers could get caught up in. Despite all of this, I wasn’t fully convinced I could do it. A few weeks later I devoured Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead. You guys, that book was amazing. The entire series, really. It made me want to become an author even more, so I began leaning towards the idea of it. Still, I didn’t start writing. I don’t know what was stopping me. I guess it was just an idea of something I could do at the time, but it wasn’t something I did. Finally, I read Evermore by Alyson Noel. That book sealed the deal. I wanted in on the literary world. I didn’t want to hold off any more. I wanted to write to my heart’s content. I was a thirteen year old girl who had a dream. I’ve been daydreaming about it. I’ve been trying to make my books the best they can be. Of course, my earlier work was terrible. I mean, whose isn’t? I cringe when I come across my older writing. But now? Now I am proud of how far I’ve come. I am so glad I decided to read Twilight, Vampire Academy and Evermore. If I didn’t, then I don’t know if I would have become an author. I can't imagine my life without my stories. I really hope I get to meet Stephenie Meyer, Richelle Mead and Alyson Noel one day. That would be amazing. 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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