Writer Mom Life Episode 17: Kara Lockharte and Experimenting with First Books

Shifter-space-odyssey-paranormal-romance author Kara Lockharte launched her debut novel in the top 2000 while spending less than $100 on promotion. Wow! Daphne finds out how she did it, and also talks to Kara about:

• How she picked her genre
• Her goals for 2018, including a branded series with 11 other authors
• How her husband supports her writing
• Why authors shouldn’t watch TV (hint: bad dialogue makes us angry)
• How her short story launch 2 years ago helped her learn the basics
• Other advantages to newsletter swaps beyond the promotional aspect

(Disclosure: some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that at no cost to you, we get a small commission if you click through and make a purchase.)

Kara’s Links

Space Shifter Chronicles
Kara’s website (with some cool book trailers!)

J. R. Frontera’s Tips and Resources

This week on the tips, J. R. and Daphne discuss how each of them kind of used their first self-published book as an experiment in indie publishing, whether that was on purpose … or more by accident!

In much the same way as their guest this week, Kara, both J. R. and Daphne learned via a “trial by fire” when they each put their first book out there into the world. As you’ll hear in the episode itself, publishing your first book quietly (and even starting with a short story instead of a full-length novel) and with an experimental and open mindset has several advantages. Some of these benefits are:

• Learning exactly what the entire self-publishing process entails front to back
• Learning which of these parts you really don’t like doing and should outsource instead (*cough*formatting*cough)
• Enabling you to make mistakes without there being tons of pressure on you (for instance, if you’d set up a pre-order or had already set up expensive ads)
• Not wasting money on ads that don’t work (because if you only have one book published, ads aren’t going to do much for you)
• Makes you aware of any potential snags to keep in mind for future publications
• Gives you a good sense of how best to task and time manage for a publication and book launch
• Tempers your expectations (WHAT DO YOU MEAN I WASN’T AN INSTANT BESTELLER!?!?! etc)
• If you start with a short story or novella, this enables you to do all of this without having first invested years of your life pouring your sweat, blood and tears into something that will crush your soul if all doesn’t go perfectly 🙂

If you’re new or new(ish) to self-publishing, you might be wondering… “Well, what exactly DOES the entire self-publishing process involve?”

The answer is: a LOT, and a lot more than people outside of the indie publishing sphere could ever appreciate. For a complete Task List (because J. R. REALLY likes lists!) to help guide you along, click here! 

And for a list of resources to help you execute that Task List, click here!