“Don’t quit. Pivot. No agent requesting? Find another way to present your query. Find another aspect of your book to focus on. Maybe even find a new way to start your book… The only way to fail is to quit.” -Deanna Roy
On Saturday, April 23rd, Deanna Roy is teaching a class for the WLT called “Launch to Success: Self Publishing in 2022.” In this class you’ll learn about the changing landscape of self publication and take away essential information to plan for a successful self publish.
Here’s what Deanna had to share with us:
Scribe: Tell us a little bit about yourself. What do you write? How did you come to writing?
Deanna Roy: I write women’s fiction, middle grade books, romantic comedies, romantic suspense, and the occasional nonfiction work. I have self-published sixty titles and have two books on submission with my agent. I started making little stapled books when I was six years old. Story has always been one of my great life escapes, and I’ve loved both reading and writing since I could put letters into words.
Scribe: In your own work, how do you approach overcoming the challenges that come with writing, be it writer’s block or craft or business-related challenges?
DR: My primary personality traits are what the Clifton Strengths call “communication” and “woo.” So when I run into trouble, I talk about it with other authors. In the process of explaining what is happening to me, I can often work it out for myself, and if not, I can listen to others’ experiences and advice. I make a lot of friends along the way. These days, I spend quite a bit of time on the Clubhouse app, doing hour-long silent sprints and ten-minute chats where we make goals and hold each other accountable. Having a community of writers to help means that virtually no challenge is insurmountable.
Scribe: Has there been a moment of epiphany in terms of your work, when you thought, “This is it! Now I know what I’m doing?” How long did that feeling last?
DR: So many times! The best moments are when your agent or a beta reader or critique partner says — um, this doesn’t work. And you think and you worry and you fear you’ll never get it, then BAM, a solution comes that not only solves the problem, but also elevates your book in some other way. This feeling lasts approximately eleven seconds until you realize this perfect solution created new, more insidious problems in the manuscript, and you have to figure out a solution for THAT part now.
Scribe: What piece of advice do you find yourself giving to writers again and again?
DR: Don’t quit. Pivot. No agent requesting? Find another way to present your query. Find another aspect of your book to focus on. Maybe even find a new way to start your book. Your indie book not selling? Pivot. Try a different cover. Rewrite that sales copy. Maybe even rewrite chapter one. The only way to fail is to quit.
Scribe: What is one thing that people will take away from this class?
DR: You will feel confident about how to put your book baby in front of the biggest audience possible, no matter where you’re starting from.
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Thanks, Deanna!
Click here to learn more about Deanna Roy’s upcoming class.
