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about me
By Jo Parfitt, on September 1st, 2010
 I recently met with a new client, Martyn Claybrough. He is a wise and intuitive chap, known as The Soul Psychologist. He wants to write a book and so I explained to him the difference between modern self-publishing methods, using the Internet and Print-on-Demand and traditional publishing, using a publisher.
“Well, you could make ten times money by self-publishing,” I said. “You’ll earn 100% of the profit (known as net receipts), but you will be responsible for paying for all the editing and design and then you have to do all the marketing afterwards too. In short, this route will cost you more money up front, but has the potential to make you far more in the long run.”
Martyn just smiled at me and waited for me to go on.
“But if you go the traditional route, you are likely to make just 7% of net receipts. It can be a slow process, the industry is in a bit of a recession, but once you do have a publisher they will handle all the editing, design and the marketing for you. Though many publishers still expect you to do a lot of the marketing yourself anyway,” I paused. “This method won’t cost you any money, but may not earn you as much as you would make self-publishing.”
“Keep going,” said Martyn. “Self-publishing seems to make such sense, but I can tell you’re a bit hesitant about it. So, Jo, explain why I should still consider looking for a real publisher.”
“For the kudos,” I said. “You will get onto bookshop shelves. Traditional publishers have representatives ‘on the road’ and this means you can could get your book in front of more people. You may not make more money, but you should get more exposure. Traditional publishers do some PR for you. They will write a press release, run a press campaign.” As I said that my stomach did a somersault.
“Stop right there!” said Martyn, raising his hand.
My mouth dropped open.
“That is what you need to do. This is what you fear most. So do it.”
He was so right. I’d known this for a while. I knew that if was to offer the best service possible to my clients I needed to adapt my publishing business so that I could provide both the benefits of self-publishing and those of traditional. It was a tall order that needed a financial risk and a leap of faith. I had long wished I could find a way to publish authors so that they had no upfront costs, had the financial benefit of Print-On-Demand, enjoyed a decent PR campaign and got into bookshops too. That embarking on such a huge task was my biggest fear was no surprise.
After saying goodbye to Martyn, and with my heart still in my mouth, I picked up my iPhone and decided to look at the frivolous little app I once picked up for free and that gave horoscopes and tarot readings. I never looked at the tarot. I didn’t understand it and thought it was probably too scary. Another fear, right? That day, however, I chose to flip over one tarot card in the area of career. Lo and behold, up popped The Devil! Now that freaked me out even further. First Martyn had read my mind and then I had picked a card with a devil on it.
The next day I met with my friend Ingrid Schippers of The Portable Yoga Company and told her about my experience with Martyn and the tarot card.
“Ah,” she said. “The devil is actually a lucky card. It does not mean you have to make friends with him. It just means you need to go the dark side.”
“The dark side?” that sounds even worse, I replied, panicking slightly. Was I to start wearing a long cape and pacing the midnight streets?
“The dark side in you. It means you should face your fear and conquer it once and for all. It’s about giving in to your impulses and going for it. As for the Devil: In a positive sense it’s an indication you are ready to confront your dark side.”
Is that what all this was about, then? That I should get my fear of commitment to PR in a headlock and join the big boys? That I should bring what I consider to be the benefits of traditional publishing into the world of Print on Demand? And that I should be brave enough to invest in some of my clients myself, take a risk and not charge for my services? I’ve been indulging in excuses long enough. It is a big leap for me. But it is a leap that feels so right.
Every time I think about this my stomach churns. But you know, Ingrid was right, I was ready to confront this fear because I actually hired a Virtual Assistant to compile me some PR databases before the summer and have now built some valuable lists. So, you know, when I was subsequently offered the opportunity to join forces with an existing publisher and combine my current list of expat titles with his and start commissioning authors I took a deep breath and agreed.
I am now delighted to announce that I plan to publish about six expat books next year and am on the look out for authors with superb ideas. What’s more I am going to do that dreaded PR.
If that isn’t facing my fear and going to the dark side, I don’t know what is!
Is it time you faced your fear headlong and did something about it too?
books
By Jo Parfitt, on August 26th, 2010
Authors need lots of publicity if they are to sell their books. On this blog I have often championed the brilliance of book reviews and love to share unusual methods for promoting your book. Only this week Robin Pascoe launched her online video ‘tour’ comprising 18 short video presentations (do watch them, Robin is witty, cynical and very knowledegable).
Then, today, Toni Hargis, author of Rules Britannia was interviewed by Peter at ExpatFocus and talks about how to write material based on your life abroad, how to make money from it and her own publishing journey. If you want to find a publisher for your book listen to Toni’s interview here. Her excellent blog, ExpatMum, can be seen here and her joint blog with Mike Harling from both sides of the pond here.
books
By Jo Parfitt, on August 24th, 2010
I have long admired the work of Joanna Penn and when this email landed in my inbox a few moments ago I had to share it with you.
If you have ever doubted the credibility or viability of online publishing, this email and short video from Joanna will put your mind at rest once and for all.
And, if you are thinking of self-publishing but would like someone to hold your hand who knows the ropes, you know where to find me. For, while I am a publisher in my own right, I also help authors start their own press if that is what they prefer.
Read on:
 Seth Godin, 12 x NY Times bestselling author with business books like ‘Linchpin’, ‘Purple Cow’ and ‘Tribes’ has announced that he will no longer publish in the traditional manner with print books.
He will go direct to his market and his customers through digital means by publishing to his blog, with ebooks, videos and other digital media.
This is extremely exciting for authors as his very public defection is causing many people to change their minds about what it means to self-publish or be an independent author. The stigma is crashing down!
I have just made this short video explaining what has happened and what it means to you
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/2010/08/24/seth-godin-gives-up-on-traditional-publishing/
I hope you find it useful and please do leave your thoughts in the comments.
To your writing and publishing success,
Joanna
Joanna Penn
Author, Blogger and Speaker
(e) joanna@TheCreativePenn.com
http://www.TheCreativePenn.com : Adventures in writing, publishing and book marketing
(t) http://www.twitter.com/thecreativepenn
(f) http://www.facebook.com/TheCreativePenn
books
By Jo Parfitt, on August 23rd, 2010
 It’s not often that a piece of writing strikes me as exceptional. But when I do I always mark it the text I am reading and commit the crime of folding over the corner of the page. A piece of writing has to be particularly fine if I then go the length of carrying the book with me to read out to people (anyone who will listen actually) and off the scale if I take the final step and type it up to circulate to those outside my immediate reach. Well, that is what happened with half a page of text in Michael Wright’s C’est La Folie.
In fact, I had never even heard of this book and it was only because I found it in the book bank on the stairs of discarded reading material left behind by previous holiday makers in Kefalonia last month that I discovered it at all. But, specialising as I do in teaching people how to write their life story I am always on the look out for travel memoir.
In a nutshell: Michael moves to France alone. He buys a completely ramshackle farm that he claims is called La Folie (madness) and desperately waits for it to be renovated so he can bring over his beloved grand piano. It is when the agony of being without it starts to get to him that he writes the following:
April: the Lone Pine
“So here I am, in front of my piano. I can picture the keyboard’s white and black gleam; the burnished strings stretching away from me, reflected in the polished lacquer of the open lid.
In my head, the first thing I play is a simple chord, with both hands. The weight of the notes is like the give of the sand beneath my feet as I walk along a beach with someone for whom I have always longed. We are in E-flat major; my favourite key, the key of all that’s good in the world. Every key evokes a different mood: A major for summer pleasures, G-flat major for heartfelt longing, C minor for sadness you can describe, C-sharp minor for sadness you can’t, G major for a trusted friend, B minor they should ever let you down.
E-flat major is the sound of my mum’s lasagne, the sound of the twilight on a clear summer’s day, the sound of the Espace when it starts and I’m not expecting it to, because I’m late for playing the organ for Mass. It is the key of Chopin’s most beautiful nocturnes and waltzes, three-quarters of Mozart’s horn concertos, of ‘Spread a Little Happiness’ and ‘Someone to Watch Over Me.’
An octave in the left hand. The right hand, playing the first inversion in that tenor range where the piano sings most plangently.
Play both hands together, and we are at home, there are lights in all the windows, two dogs sleeping in front of the fire, and I have somehow invented myself a gorgeous wife who is, even as the notes die, mixing me the perfect gin-and-tonic.
That’s how it feels to play an E-flat major chord, when you don’t have a piano.”
Wonderful, isn’t it? I guess the rarity of my discovery is proven further by the fact that I am now in email contact with Michael, have his permission to reproduce his extract, have bought the sequel to C’est La Folie (called Je t’aime a La Folie) and will be posting an interview with him shortly.
Watch this space and meanwhile, tell me what you thought of the extract, above.
Michael Wright’s books are published by Transworld. His website is www.lafolie.co.uk
expatriate stuff
By Jo Parfitt, on August 16th, 2010
I am a big fan of writing competitions, particularly when the winners get published. Earlier this year I was a judge for the Netherlands Young Writer Competition and the winners had their entries published in a super book about friendship. A week or so ago I judged the finalists in the Life in a Flying House competition where winners earn $10,000 from the Expat Youth Scholarship and publication online. I urge you to look at the website and read last year’s entries while you are waiting for this year’s results (out 13 September).
This week, I have two more competitions to tell you about – and this time they are for grown ups!
Entering a competition has many six benefits.
Six reasons to enter a writing competition
- You have practise writing to a brief
- you have practise writing to a deadline
- you have practise writing to a defined word count
- if you win, you get published!
- if you win, you have something really special to put on your writing CV
- if you get short-listed, or if you win, you will build your confidence and that all important self-belief
My client, author of Tork and Grunt, Bob Harvey just told me about WritersAbroad. Goodness knows how I had missed them before, so thanks, Bob. This virtual group for expat writers anywhere is running a competition for writers of short stories as part of National Short Story Week. They will compile an anthology of winning entries.
And my wonderful intern, Renata, told me about a Road Junkie writing competition, where winners will get to write a travel guide AND get paid for it.
And today, I had to return to this post because Robin Pascoe had posted details on Linked in about another expat writing competition for writers in any genre at ExpatLit.
If you are serious about your writing then take these competitions seriously and get writing!
books
By Jo Parfitt, on August 16th, 2010
I just wrote a piece about how to write about your life experience overseas for a website called Khiruna. If you would like to find out more and dip into some tips and ideas then click here.
inspiration
By Jo Parfitt, on August 11th, 2010
Many of my students find it hard to let go of their work and send it out into the universe. Pressing the Publish button on your blog, sending that proposal out to a publisher, or emailing that pitch to a magazine editor can be tough.
If you procrastinate about letting go then read my column at The Hague Online this month about why letting go is a good thing.
inspiration
By Jo Parfitt, on August 5th, 2010
As many of you know, I have been sending out my free monthly newsletter, The Inspirer, for eight years. I send it because it helps me to fulfil my mission of ’sharing what I know to help others to grow’. I try to write something insightful that will help and inspire other writers and try to be as generous as I can with what I share – connections, tips, information and ideas.
I have always believed in giving things away. That’s why I give away two free reports to anyone dropping by my site – see the box there offering The Seven Secrets for Writing Life Stories and the other offering 50 Steps to a Book in Your Hand? Head over to my Giveaways page and you will find more freebies still. Sign up to have me as your mentor and I’ll give you lots of other stuff too. This is how I try to add value to my services. I never expect all the people who take one of my freebies to become my client one day. I just give because I hope that I can make a difference and that maybe, someday, somehow, someone will do the same for me. That’s why I love to nurture teenage writers. Yes, I do that for free too. That’s why I run free writing workshops for local non-profit groups. Sure, I hope that someone who comes on one of my free courses may one day attend a paid-for workshop, buy one of my books, or refer me to someone who does need my services. But one of the reasons I love to give in this way is that giving makes me feel good. Being of service benefits me as much as it benefits the recipient. When someone I have helped gets published or starts to write that book they have been putting off for years I could jump for joy!
Today, an unexpected reward landed in my in box. I’ve been in touch with Karin Behringer, for a while, and she has been a subscriber to the Inspirer for quite some time. Today, I received the following email:
 My book is out! It is available in every German book shop and through Amazon or book-on-demand! http://www.pb-bookshop.de/product_info.php?products_id=1371
I really want to thank you for the inspiration and help I got through you and the Inspirer and the Book Cooks!
Best regards
Karin Behringer
Karin has never bought one of my courses, though she did read and review my book Expat Entrepreneurs, and she has never paid me for mentoring, yet my work has helped her to write and publish a book about her life in Saudi Arabia as an expat. I think this is a wonderful compliment. If the value of the stuff I give away for free is that useful, then that makes me feel terrific.
That Karin took the time to write and thank me is all the payment I need.
Yesterday, I met with my teen mentee, Sian, in the pouring rain, so I could give her another book to review. In just a few weeks I have watched her place several articles and reviews in online and offline magazines so that her imminent university application could stand out. I danced round the room when I saw her piece appear on WhileAbroad.
“Thank you so much for helping me get published,” she said. “I really appreciate it.”
These days it is easy to forget to say thank you, but when you are on the receiving end I tell you, the value of hearing those words is priceless.
If you need to thank someone, why not do it now?
books
By Jo Parfitt, on August 3rd, 2010
I don’t know about you, but whenever I see a youngster doing well it makes me go a bit emotional. Even when young kids end up getting into the final of reality shows, it makes me well up. I put this reaction down to the fact that I did not feel supported by my teachers when I was at school. My creativity was rarely praised and though I dreamed of being an actress and a singer, I never got the smallest part in a school play (my last speaking part was as a ‘Bong Tree’ in Dr Dolittle aged 10) and was last to be picked for the choir. That and being told by my careers advisor that ‘writing was not a real career’, made me lose such faith in teachers that once I achieved success as a published writer I would ensure other youngsters never met the same fate.
So, when I was asked to be a judge for the Dutch News, Xpat Media and International Herald Tribune’s Young Writers’ Competition earlier this year, I jumped at the chance. Little did I know that Robin Pascoe and I would have over 600 entries from 6-18 year-olds to read between us. But oh, the joy of discovering such innocent talent! It was a privilege to be part of what became a book on Friendship, now available from Holland Books.
At the prize giving ceremony, many parents came up to me and said how pleased they were that their child had won something when normally they were overlooked at school. That, I tell you, gave me the greatest buzz of all.
Right now I am in the throes of judging the finalists for Clements International’s 2010 Expat Youth Scholarship Life in a Flying House writing competition. This time I only have to pick the winners from a shortlist, but again I am blown away by the imagination and creativity of the 12-18 year-olds who entered.
But to me, judging competitions is not enough to help nurture young talent. Every year I go to talk to sixth formers at the British School here about what having a career as a writer really means. At the end of the talk I invite any who are serious to talk to me later so I can help them to get published. I know too well how vital having a portfolio of published work is to anyone trying to get a place at university to study journalism and if I can help, I will. Right now I am helping three 17 year-olds to do just that. You can read one of Sian’s pieces here on my Student Success page.
If you, like me, have ever had to struggle to get recognised, perhaps you too could do something to nurture young talent and be sure this doesn’t happen to you too? I can tell you, the biggest buzz of all comes from creating opportunities for others. If I can help another person to develop the confidence and self-belief that will help them to dare to chase their dreams, then I will.
What could you do, or do you do to help youngsters?
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