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On March 25th, Deb will represent Blue Sun Studio at the annual Clark County Spring Fling book festival at the Clark County library in Las Vegas. This will be our third year in attendance selling the Bonds of Blood & Spirit Saga, signing books, catching up with current Packmates and meeting new ones.
This year, we will also be listening to pitches from local Las Vegas authors who are interested in publishing with Blue Sun Studio. In order to help you decide if we are a good fit for you, we’d like to tell you how we work and what we expect.
Hybrid Publishing
Among our Blue Sun Studio services, we offer Hybrid Publishing for both fiction and non-fiction books. There are many advantages to working with a Hybrid Publisher that you might not be aware of. For example, there are no copyright commitments and you retain all the rights to your book. You are not obligated to follow a specific marketing plan and instead are free to market it any way you like. In addition,we provide you with expert hand-held guidance and coaching through the writing and publishing process, ISBNs for print and digital, create a professional, eye-catching cover and interior design, formatting for print and digital, and the credibility that comes with having a publisher listed among your credits.
While we don’t offer advances, we also don’t take any royalties. Instead, we’re paid for the services required to produce your professional quality book and after that, your book is all yours.
The Pitch
The first consultation with us will determine what stage your manuscript is in and whether or not you’ll need some Manuscript Mentoring before we continue to the next phase.
Often, an author may have already worked with an editor and believe they have a final manuscript. Sometimes, that editor may have corrected spelling and grammar, but wasn’t a developmental editor. If the story hasn’t benefited from the polishing that developmental editors can bring to the table, then the manuscript might be in need of some refinement before we start talking about design.
A Word About First Drafts
What is a first draft? This is the part where you’ve written the last line of the story, typed “The End”, and sit back for a celebratory glass of champagne.
It may be the end of your story, but it’s not the end of your work. The first draft is a brain dump. You’ve spilled your story out on the page, paying no mind to character arcs, flow and pacing, or plot holes. Truth be told, there’s no room for that when writing your first draft. You can’t let the creative floodgates open and edit for all that at the same time. If you did, you’d be spinning your wheels and it would take you much longer to finish the story.
Your first draft you write with the door closed. You’re not looking for input from anyone else yet. Rewrites begin when you dive back into your story with your editor hat on and open yourself up to the world, asking for feedback from eyes that have not seen your story yet. This is where the real work begins and may take several weeks or months.
This is why we need to see your manuscript as highly polished as possible. Not doing so may mean several more weeks or months writing, with or without coaching, before we can discuss publication.
What to Show Us at the Spring Fling:
- Bring with you a final, edited first chapter of your manuscript in word. No fancy formatting, in other words, don’t waste a lot of time trying to make it look pretty. Simple formatting like bolding and italics are fine.
- Have a brief summary of your story ready. Don’t worry about “selling” us on the story, you don’t have think about pitching a concept to us. We want to know what the story’s about—and it’s okay to include spoilers and how it all ends.
- Know your genre. Who’s your audience?
- Know what your publishing goals are. A few questions to ask yourself are: Is this a story you want to share with family and friends only? Is it a non-fiction book meant to support the work you do on a daily basis? Do you want to get your book into brick and mortar stores?
What we don’t want (please don’t send/bring/do):
- Full manuscripts
- Unfinished manuscripts
- Concept proposals (the manuscript isn’t written at all)
- Cover sketches/ideas
We’re also willing to talk to you if you have a book you’ve tried to publish yourself and you want to re-do. Many first time authors are dissatisfied with their DIY results and know they need a more professional look. We’re more than happy to talk to you about a new cover design, new formatting, or helping you clean up your book’s story.
Good luck and see you at the fair!