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I'm an idea junkie on the look out for
projects that stir extraordinary things
in a sometimes too-ordinary world.
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I’ll be honest. The community where we live is a step removed from the 1950′s era cookie-cutter neighborhoods I always see depicted on TV.
The Smallville, Truman-Show type where people sip fresh-squeezed lemonade on porch swings and invite each other to barbecues over freshly-painted picket fences.
It’s not that my neighborhood is unfriendly.Don’t get me wrong. Truth be told, I’ve never had a bad interaction here.
People are all quick to smile, say hello, and wave. A few walk their dogs. Kids walk back and forth to school. But because of structure and geography (it is not entirely connected via sidewalks and our street is not an access road to any commercial areas), I’ve found the comfortable norm is less about hanging out on each others’ porches and more about offering polite greetings on the way to garages and mailboxes.
This, as well as the increased number of people leaving town and selling their houses, combined with my own devotion to whatever busyness passes as important on any given day, is why I’ve only met a handful of people in the neighborhood. Immediate neighbors and a handful of others.
It’s why I struggle for names.
Prior to this, my husband and I spent five years living in a hopping urban neighborhood where people blared music, picked fights, and strolled the streets at all times of day and night. Residents hooted and hollered at you as they approached from 50 feet away. I ate fried chicken, watched little kids get their hair braided and found myself glued to the front porch much more often. I even have a picture of our old neighbors from across the street on my refrigerator to this day. In that setting, then, it was nearly impossible NOT to get to know our neighbors.
People often find it funny that I miss that scene, which to them sounds too chaotic or noisy, but in the silence and separateness, I find I do. I don’t want to let go of the concept of neighborhood–of knowing the people who share this plot of land, of working together for the common good of our street, of looking out for the children of our community, or of just saying hello by name.
But wanting and doing are not always easy. Everyone is busy with their own lives and to do lists, trying to keep up with their own chores and extra-curricular activities. There are yards that, outside of an occasional car exiting the driveway, I’ve never seen a person in.
So as cheesy as it sounds, I was eventually prompted to start a Facebook page for our neighborhood. Not because I think technology is always the answer (sometimes it’s part of what takes us away from our neighbors), but because Facebook is a relatively accepted forum for interacting with acquaintances. People feel free to participate or not participate at their own preference. It’s non-threatening.
As I created the page, I tried to keep natural boundaries to make sure not to exclude anyone, so I identified all the streets between a sprawling, city park/forest area and a commercial zone. Then I picked out a couple people I knew well enough to send Facebook messages to and invited them to join me in helping connect anyone in our neighborhood who wanted to be connected.
I intend to pass out flyers soon. And I’m guessing the concept will get a variety of responses … or maybe hardly any at all. Even though the page clearly asks people not to identify their street addresses for safety sake, there are other potential stranger-dangers (both real and exaggerated) that could prevent some great people from participating.
And it’s a little awkward. After all, it’s not an official Neighborhood Watch program and the purpose isn’t specifically to increase public safety (although I imagine that could be part of what happens).
The idea is much more simple than that. It is to open up communication lines and give permission for people to identify themselves as “neighbors who want to know each other”.
It is to create the possibility of a neighborhood viewing of the parade or fireworks.
To create the possibility of a block party or street-wide barbecue.
To create the possibility of play dates at the park, community garage sales or information about nearby events.
It was to put a flag in the ground outside our house to indicate, clearly and visibly, that someone who cares and wants to know you, lives here. And if there’s one or two other people or families willing to plant a flag in their yard and reach back, well then, we just might give those 1950′s neighborhoods a run for their money.
**What is your neighborhood like? Is it different than the neighborhood of your childhood? I’d love to hear about your experience. Please comment! Also, do you have an idea or suggestion for getting to know your neighbors or other community members in your town? I’d love to hear it in the comment section.**
If you’re looking to get to know your community, as a church or a faith group, I’m developing a book you might want to stay in the loop on. Just leave your name here.
When the media mentions self-publishing, it’s often to highlight the rare, few authors whose e-books sell by the tens of thousands. But headlines don’t tend to say much about the average person’s experience. That’s why today, and for the next few weeks, I’ll be asking five self-published author exactly what it’s like to self-publish and sell a book.
I asked each author the same three introductory questions for today’s post. You can read their answers below their website and book info. Check back next Monday to hear more about how each of them designed and went about marketing their book, as well as the results.
Amy Bennett
Her book: Entangled
Websites: www.EntangledBook.com and www.PermissionToPeruse.
Sarah: Did you consider traditional publishing? What made you go the self-publishing route?
Amy: No. A few reasons played into that. I knew I wouldn’t have the word count required for traditional publishing. Queries, proposals and all the marketing, to be honest, is also a little scary. I liked the idea that I didn’t have to deal with rejections and I was in charge of the entire process. And more importantly, I was in charge of the timeline. I had a message to get out and I wanted it to happen right away. In addition, I already have a full time job with two young girls and I just didn’t feel like I had the time or effort required for traditional publishing.
Sarah: What service/company did you use to self-publish your book?
Amy: I heavily used Melissa Oyler Designs (MOD) in conjunction with CreateSpace.com to publish the paperback version.
Sarah: Are you willing to share how much it cost to use this service?
Sarah: Did you consider traditional publishing? What made you go the self-publishing route?
Brandon: Absolutely. The editor I worked with felt good about my chances getting in with a Christian publisher, but that’s where it got complicated. My book is a story about a rough around the edges guy named Jack, and it’s intended to start conversations with people who have been turned away from Jesus because of sins of the church. So I felt strongly that in order for the character and story to ring true, there needed to be a little true-to-life rawness in the story, some PG-13 grit and messiness. I learned that if I wanted to go with a Christian publisher, I would have to change some things about the story that I just didn’t want to change. I debated it for sure, because as well all know it’s easier to have some help. In the end I decided to leave the book as it was and figure out how to publish it myself, because I thought it was worth it.
So that kind of made my decision for me, and I didn’t pursue an agent or publisher. I’m not against traditional publishers, however, and would definitely be open to writing for one in the future.
Lastly, another big reason that I loved the idea of self-publishing was that I could make prices as low as possible to reduce barriers that might keep people from getting it.
Sarah: What service/company did you use to self-publish your book?
Brandon: I technically formed my own publishing company (Twisted Beam Press) and used a company called Lightning Source to print it (they distribute print on demand titles directly to online retailers through Ingram).I chose them because they have the best quality of printing, hands down. My paperback has an incredible matte cover and looks as good as any traditionally published book. I had some test versions printed with other companies and when you put them side by side the difference is astounding (in large part due to the gloss laminate covers that other printers use). They also pay the best author royalties of any company I found, so that was a plus.The main con of going through them (and it’s a large one) is that it takes a hefty amount of work to work with them. They treat you like a publisher and they are very upfront about the fact that they are not a self-publishing services company. From starting an account to paperwork to learning their file types—it is not easy and it’s not very user friendly. They have a ton of helpful info on their website, but it’s very spread out and hard to find. I read an entire book to learn how to work with them (it’s called POD For Profit—the cover looks terrible but it was incredibly helpful).It was a lot of work, but the end result was more than worth it and I couldn’t be happier.
Sarah: Are you willing to share how much it cost to use this service?
Brandon: Sure. Working with them cuts out all of the middlemen, so it’s very cheap. It costs nothing to have an account with them, and uploading a book costs $100 (and that includes a proof copy overnighted to you). Aside from that, I had to buy ISBN’s which cost $250 for a block of ten.
Of course, that doesn’t include other costs I invested (like editing), but that was all it took to use Lightning Source.
Mike Hall
His book: Jigsaw
Website: www.JigsawBook.com and facebook.com/mikeisspeaking
Sarah: Did you consider traditional publishing? What made you go the self-publishing route?
Mike: Having grown up around bands and going to shows, I had seen the process of self-promotion and self-publishing music. Then, when things pick up, you get label interest. This was basically the only route I was familiar with, so I ventured in this direction. I did the design, and writing. My wife did the editing (she’s a high school English teacher). Paid someone to do the page layout. A good friend created 35 original illustrations. Another friend (who is a middle school guidance counselor) wrote a page or two for each chapter from her perspective.
Sarah: What service/company did you use to self-publish your book?
Mike: A&A Publishing in Tampa. By far, it was a great experience working with them. Very affordable company and they have no minimum print run. No minuses to speak of!! They even threw in 50 free copies on top of the 500 that I ordered. Super nice peeps!
Sarah: Are you willing to share how much it cost to use this service?
Mike: Total cost out of pocket for me was $1700, including 150 for the layout work that was done elsewhere.
Andy Merritt
His book: Eden
Website: www.EdenTheBook.com and www.recklessliving.com
Sarah: Did you consider traditional publishing? What made you go the self-publishing route?
Andy: I considered it but the difficulty in getting a traditional publisher or agent to even look at a manuscript or book proposal kept me from pursuing it very far.
Sarah: What service/company did you use to self-publish your book?
Andy: I went through Create Space. There are some serious plusses with them, but also a few minuses. On the plus side they are owned by Amazon, so inclusion in Amazon’s store is seamless. Your book also always shows up as “In Stock” at Amazon, which is important to buyers. There is very little overhead and the price for the author to purchase each copy is about the lowest I could find.
On the minus side commissions paid on books sold through the Amazon store are relatively low. They also do not offer hard cover printing options.
Sarah: Are you willing to share how much it cost to use this service?
Andy: As long as you do the design work yourself (or have it done by someone else) the costs are mimimal. You need to purchase a physical proof before you can approve the book to be sold. They also have a “Pro” plan you can purchase for $39 that dramatically decreases your costs per copy. As long as you sell 50 copies or more it is money you easily make back and saves you in the long run.
I had other overhead costs getting started: cover images, I printed preview copies for review, web hosting, etc. Probably around $400 to get started.
Jimmy Spencer
His book: Love Without an Agenda
Website: www.book.lovewithoutagenda.com
Sarah: Did you consider traditional publishing? What made you go the self-publishing route?
Jimmy: I wrote the book with my charity’s (also called Love Without Agenda) CoFounder Lisa O’Brien-Wentzel who contributed a ton of ideas and content editing within the process. Once we had a working manuscript, we did investigate tradition publishing as a viable model. We decided that for people who were not famous (or who didn’t have a large following), traditional publishing wasn’t very practical or beneficial.
We decided to self-publish because we had a really unique situation. Publishers essentially do three things for you. They design the actual book, they print the book, and they market the book. As the founder of a charity, I knew I had resources such as a co-writer, a professional designer, an in-house editor, and website and e-book people. We had a great creative team that could produce a book (and related materials) that we were confident would stand up to any major publishing house. The only piece we are ‘iffy’ on is the actual marketing….but we are sure we’ll figure that out too! Not surprisingly, we’ve found in our interviews with many national authors that their publishers offered very little in marketing (unless they were already a iconic figure).
We realized that we had all the pieces to create, print, and market a book. So we just went for it.
Sarah: What service/company did you use to self-publish your book?
Jimmy: A donor provided the funds for the first edition of 3000 books. We printed them with a local printer John S Swift. They let us come out on the day of printing and document the process and even gave us the metal book plates that the books were created on. We use those plates to say ‘thank you’ to major Love Without Agenda donors.
Sarah: Are you willing to share how much it cost to use this service?
Jimmy:It cost us $12,700 to print the actual books plus miscellaneous costs such as shipping & storage that brought the final total to around $15,000.
(It’s fair to note here that Jimmy printed a big first run of books, which is why his costs were higher than others mentioned.)
**If you find this series helpful or if you or someone you know has self-publishing or e-publishing experience to share, please leave me a comment. Also, if you’re setting out to write your book, I’ve started a free community to support aspiring authors.**
I don’t know about you, but I’ve noticed an increasing number of headlines about authors who find outrageous success in self-publishing, especially via e-books.
Some of these success stories highlight established authors whose digital book sales are a natural extension of their existing platforms. But the crazy, tempting, irresistible part is that some of these overnight successes are almost complete unknowns. Ordinary people. Like you. Like me.
For authors, these articles can be impossible to ignore.
It’s hard NOT to let your wild, daydreaming, wouldn’t-mind-some-extra-moolah brain think, Man, maybe, it’s time to try e-publishing. Who knows? Maybe that could be me.
Of course, in the moments we are most in touch with reality, we get that it’s not that simple. That the entire REASON these e-pub stories are in the news to begin with are that they’re sensational. They’re the exception not the rule.
If everyone who tried e-publishing became instant successes, breaking through to the New York Times Bestseller list and the World’s Richest People lists overnight, it wouldn’t be news anymore.
It’s only a headline grabber because it’s so, so (sadly, regretfully) rare.
So what exactly is the average person’s experience with self-publishing and e-books?
In an effort to find out, and dig deeper than the media mythology around e-publishing, I’m interviewing a handful of real life authors who have tried their hands at self-publishing. None of them are celebrities or mega-church pastors and none of them are bankrolled by a billion dollar corporation.
They’re all people un-extraordinarily like you and I, who work hard to pay bills, but have learned and created some good content, and are attempting to share it.
I invite you back here Monday for the first post in this series, which will cover everything from which publishers they used, how much it cost, and whether they’d do it again.
Amy Bennett
Her book: Entangled
Websites: www.EntangledBook.com and www.PermissionToPeruse.
Brandon Clements
His book: Every Bush Is Burning
Website: www.EveryBush.com and www.BrandonClements.com
Mike Hall
His book: Jigsaw
Website: www.JigsawBook.com and facebook.com/mikeisspeaking
Andy Merritt
His book: Eden
Website: www.EdenTheBook.com and www.recklessliving.com
Jimmy Spencer
His book: Love Without an Agenda
Website: www.book.lovewithoutagenda.com
**If you find this series helpful or if you or someone you know has self-publishing or e-publishing experience to share, please leave me a comment. Also, if you’re setting out to write your book, I’ve started a free community to support aspiring authors.**
You may have friends in sitcom-worthy neighborhoods who host Martha-Stewart caliber block parties. They pile out onto the curb together to watch parades or gather in a clearing to take in the local fireworks.
But maybe the whole time your friends are recounting their love-my-neighbor bliss, you’re struggling to scrape up the name of the guy who has lived next door to you for six years. It’s Hank. Or Hal. Maybe Harold. Definitely one of the three. (You contemplate checking his mail someday when he’s not home, even though this may be a federal offense.)
Or maybe your neighborhood is more the nod-on-the-way-out-the-driveway types. And the last street wide barbecue that graced your parts was the time that lady one street over caught her yard on fire while burning leaves.
If that’s your scenario, then you have to look for simple events.
Really simple, non-invitation events. Non-events.
Like a garage or yard sale sign, a lemonade stand, some furniture or a bike set out by the curb for sale.
These signs are permission-giving. They say “come over and look at our items.” And stopping by, even for a few minutes on the way in from the mailbox, also gives you the chance to introduce yourself and express positive interest in what they’re doing.
And who knows, maybe you’ll find a replica of that 80′s hair band poster you had in the second grade while you’re at it.
I make a rule never to pass the chance to interact with neighbors, especially kids. I might as well own stock in the concept of the lemonade stand. This has earned me many cups of lemonade–of various quality and size–and in one case, a couple stalks of rhubarb (which I hate) from two very determined adolescent entrepreneurs with a megaphone.
If you’re looking to get to know your community, as a church or a faith group, I’m developing a book you might want to stay in the loop on. Just leave your name here.
Those of you who’ve been following my work for a while have heard me casually, repeatedly and sometimes passionately refer to something called Dream Year.
Just to recap, Dream Year is a STORY-family offering that helps people achieve a goal (that book you always wanted to write, that charitable organization you always wanted to start, that company you want to get off the ground and so on) in just twelve months.
While a small number of applicants are accepted into year-round coaching with my friend Ben Arment, there are two alternative ways to access the training through a fast-track bootcamp weekend and/or online subscription (video modules).
Last weekend, a Dream Year Weekend was hosted in Charlotte, North Carolina. For those of you who’ve been curious about the process, who know you have a dream stirring inside you but aren’t sure what to do about it, I thought you might want to read the words (and see some photos) from Dream Year Weekend participant Thea Nelson who captures what a personal and person-able experience it is.
You can learn more about Dream Year here…