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LM Preston is co-owner of Phenomenal One Press, Vice President at MBPA, Conference Coordinator at Maryland Writer's Association who recruits Lit Agents and Editors for conferences, and is a moderator at YAlitchat.org which is an online writing community. In addition she has penned over 5 published novels in Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction. She's taught at University of Maryland, University College in technical related studies.
Haha, chats just don't like me I guess. My first two Q's were asked, but never addressed. :P
ReplyDeleteHere they are again.
1.} What is the best advice you have for indie writers, who are A} Just starting out as Indies, and B} can't afford an editor {aside from critique groups}?
2.} What advice do you have for YA vs New Adult?
3.} Does NA have to have a sex scene to qualify as NA?
@Heidi, no income for 5 years makes pro editing a no go this round, unless she's willing to do a trade of some kind.
bidelia78@yahoo.com
any ideas what you might be willing to trade? i can pass it along to her:)
Delete1.} What is the best advice you have for indie writers, who are A} Just starting out as Indies, and B} can't afford an editor {aside from critique groups}?
DeleteYou can find an editor - some even for free - and use editing tools that are free. See my blog post on it (http://lmpreston.blogspot.com/2012/01/editing-sucks-but-there-are-tools-to.html)
2.} What advice do you have for YA vs New Adult?
New Adult is a new slice of Genre and I believe can have a wider range of sales than YA. But in the end, write both and see how it works out for you. As an independent you do what you want. You just have to be willing to learn from the experience to improve.
3.} Does NA have to have a sex scene to qualify as NA?
No New Adult doesn't have to have sex. There's plenty of adult books that don't.
Also to get money to publish use KickStarter . com and other sites that you can get donations to help you publish your book.
DeleteHeidi I can do critiques {very in-depth} I'm an editor in training, but, even editors can't catch all the mistakes in their own {haha reflexive} books. They are too close to the characters, and stories.} You could have her email me if she wants a diff kind of trade. I'm open to suggestions.
DeleteLM. Thank you. I'm looking at the article now.
I use Edit Minion, Pro Writer Aide, and Story Analyzer for YA. Plus several crit groups.
I didn't even think about donations. Have already had a blog commenter recently mention it's a shame I didn't have a donation button. I'll have to figure that part out.
bidelia78@yahoo.com
Hi LM! Thank you for a wonderful chat. You mentioned that you are constantly doing blog tours and that you use an assistant to schedule them. But do you have a hand in picking who hosts the tours? Or is the assistant scheduling the entire blog tour themselves? Do you do a lot of guest posts for the tours? Or do you mix it up with reviews, guest posts, interviews, etc? I guess the main question is: do you have go to bloggers or blog tour coordinators? Thanks, and CONGRATULATIONS on your incredible success.
ReplyDeleteI usually work with several blog tour companies to set up my tours. So far the ones I've worked with have been great at finding the right fit for my books.
DeleteHey everyone - post your questions and I will answer them :-D
ReplyDelete