Today’s post comes from guest author, writing friend and marketing guru Valerie Biel!

When I began writing fiction professionally, I had no idea the number of things I would need to learn on the way to publication and beyond. I will never forget the many people who provided kind mentorship in those early months. Now, ten years later, it’s incredibly fun to do the same for other writers.

But let’s back up for just a minute. It was 2009, and I made a decision to radically change my professional world. My sister had been diagnosed with a terminal cancer—the same cancer that took my oldest sister a few years prior. I was devastated and reevaluated my priorities. Having always wanted to write the stories germinating in my mind, I stepped back from many of my other responsibilities to create my first full-length story—a novel. Daunting!

It took a year to finish the rough draft. That’s when my real education about publishing began.

Throughout the next few years, I alternately wrote new stories and edited that first book, beginning my search for an agent. I finally made a decision (after much research) to independently publish that first book. I created my company Lost Lake Press and learned everything I needed to know about the publishing process (and more). My 25-year career as a public relations professional helped me immensely with the important publicity and marketing tasks. Every week I was learning something new, whether it was how to format my e-books, set up my online store, create a proper author website, start a blog, or run Facebook ads.

As a lot of these tasks are either confusing or time consuming, with many being both, I began to share my knowledge with other authors—the kind of help I wished had been available to me as a new author!

I work with both indie and traditionally published authors. For some, I handle entire projects from start to finish, but other authors prefer to hire me in tutorial-mode. That way they can learn a task step-by-step with my guidance so they can work independently in the future. My concern is that you get the help you need to best present yourself and your work to the world.

You can check out a partial list of services that I offer below.

(The full list is available at www.LostLakePress.com.)

Step-by-Step Independent Publishing Guidance/Coaching
Pathway to Publication Tutorial
Market Analysis for Proposed Book Topics
Book Blurb/Jacket Flap Copy – writing or editing
Agent/Publisher Query Letters
Agent Search Strategies
Development or Review of Online Presence (Social Media/Website/Book Sales Sites)
Social Media Platform Design/Artwork
Websites (update or designing from scratch)
Book Launch Publicity Plans (Social Media/Traditional Media)
Book Review Strategy Planning
Media Kit Development (Press Releases/Media Contact Lists)
Ad Design (Amazon/BookBub/Facebook)

DISCOUNT: As a thank you to all of Amanda’s fellow Wordnerds, I am offering you a 10% discount off of your first project until August 31, 2019. Simply mention this post in your communication with me.

Project just needs to be booked, not completed, by that date to take advantage of the discount.

I wish you the best on your personal writing journey and if you’d like me to be a part of it, just let me know.

Valerie Biel’s debut novel Circle of Nine – Beltany was honored as a Kindle Book Award Finalist, a finalist in the Gotham Writers' YA Novel Discovery Contest and the Readers' Favorite Book Award Contest as well as being a B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree. The final installment in this series - Circle of Nine: Sacred Treasures - has also received a B.R.A.G. Medallion and was short listed for the Eric Hoffer Book Award grand prize, earning the First Runner-Up distinction in the YA category. In addition to the young adult stories in the Circle of Nine World, she has also authored three middle-grade novels and is represented by Tina Schwartz of the Purcell Agency. When she’s not writing, she’s working on freelance publicity projects and assisting other authors through her business Lost Lake Press or teaching about writing topics at conferences, libraries, and schools.

When Valerie’s away from the computer, you might find her wrangling her overgrown garden, traveling the world, and reading everything she can get her hands on. Once upon a time, she graduated from the University of Wisconsin with degrees in journalism and political science. Now, she lives in rural Wisconsin with her husband and occasionally an adult child or two and dreams regularly of a beautiful cottage on the Irish coast where she can write and write. You can follow her publishing adventures at www.ValerieBiel.com.

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