Transcendence (12 page)

Michelle: The easiest (and the most fun) is
searching for the perfect image for the first book in the series.
The hardest is making sure the covers of the other books of the
series match the theme of the first, while still being unique to
their own story.

Bonnie: Which of the three covers is your
favorite?

Michelle: The cover of
Remembrance
will always be my favorite. I can’t believe I found an image that
perfectly embodied the story. The girl looks exactly like Lizzie,
and she’s wearing a gold mask similar to the one described in the
book. I love how she’s looking straight at the viewer, and the
contrast of the light on her face against the jet black background.
The mask symbolizes the mystery of the past life that Lizzie
discovers throughout the story.

Bonnie: Have you always been interested in
graphic design? Would you design covers for other authors in the
future?

Michelle: My interest in graphic design
started when I taught myself how to use Photoshop during my senior
year of high school to create icons for LiveJournal. I made
hundreds of 100x100 pixel icons for my favorite television shows
and books. Then when Twilight came out I joined the Twilight
Lexicon discussion forum, and started making Twilight icons for
members of the forum.

As for designing covers for other authors,
that’s probably not something I would do. It takes time to design
covers, and my number one priority is writing and getting my books
out to readers. There are many graphics designers who have graphic
design as their number one priority, and who are more experienced
than me, anyway. (My capabilities are limited. When I realized the
ribbon under Lizzie’s nose in the original image for Timeless had
to be removed, I had to outsource that task to a more experienced
graphic designer to make sure it was done well.)

Bonnie: What, to you, are the components
that make up the best, most eye-catching cover?

Michelle: I am partial to the “pretty girl in
a dress” covers, even though I know it’s a bit over done! I think
the best covers are simple. If too much is going on in the cover,
the viewer doesn’t know what to focus on. Also, the text must stand
out and be easy to read, so the person looking for a new book
doesn’t have to struggle to see the title and author for the
book.

Bonnie: What book covers do you love so much
that you wish you'd designed them?

Michelle: Some of my favorite covers are:

Matched
by Allie Condie

Firelight
by Sophie Jordan

Halo
by Alexandra Adornetto

The Selection
by Kiera Cass

Tempest
by Julie Cross

Tris & Izzie
by Mette Ivie
Harrison

City of Lost Souls
by Cassandra
Clare

Hi, everyone! I’ve talked a lot about my
books, the writing process, and the characters in the Transcend
Time Saga. But this is the first time I’ve shared my personal
experience with independent publishing, and why I ultimately chose
this route for the Transcend Time Saga. I hope you enjoy the story
of how this all happened and maybe even learn from it too!

In the summer of 2009, between my junior and
senior years of college, I finished the first version of
Remembrance
. My original intention was to pursue traditional
publishing. That summer I queried over fifty agents, receiving
mostly rejections. A few prospects requested the full or part of
the manuscript, and most of those manuscript requests were turned
down. By the start of my senior year I felt like every agent was
going to reject my book. It was hard for me to keep getting
rejected, especially because I was a student who earned mostly A’s,
received awards for my writing, and had most of my work praised by
my teachers and fellow students. I wasn’t used to failing, and it
was getting me down.

Then, two weeks into the first semester of my
senior year I got a phone call from Christine Witthohn of Book
Cents Literary Agency, who I had met earlier that summer at the
Writer’s Digest Pitch Slam. She loved
Remembrance
and wanted
to take it on, but first there were some edits she wanted me to
make.

I was SO EXCITED. An agent wanted my book!
She didn’t specialize in YA (young adult) fiction—her focus was
mysteries and women’s fiction—but I didn’t care. Because this had
to be it—my big break into the world of publishing!

Figuring the edits were a “test” to see how
efficiently I could work and how well I took instruction, I did
everything she asked. In October 2009—not even a year after I wrote
the first chapter of
Remembrance
—I signed the contract with
Christine. Now I would definitely break into traditional
publishing! I had an agent, which meant at least one publishing
house would be interested in my book. Right?

Yeah … not so much.

The first rejections informed me that the
editors thought
Remembrance
was too similar to
Fallen
by Lauren Kate and
Evermore
by Alyson Noel. I hadn’t read
either of those books, but after receiving that feedback, I
purchased them and read them to understand my competition.

The big similarity was impossible to miss—all
three books dealt with reincarnation. But beyond that, they were
extremely different. Unfortunately, it wasn’t my place to point
that out to the publishers, so I had to accept their rejections and
move on.

Months passed, and the rejections kept
coming. It soon became apparent that it was going to be difficult
to get traditional publishing houses interested in
Remembrance
because of one glaring problem:

There weren’t enough paranormal elements in
the story to classify
Remembrance
as paranormal or fantasy,
but the pinch of magic didn’t allow
Remembrance
to fall into
the contemporary genre either.

Basically, since
Remembrance
didn’t
fit into an established sub-category of YA and I was an unknown
author, I was out of luck.

A year and a half passed, and I wrote two
more YA books, both starts of new series. One was an urban fantasy
adventure involving witches and Greek mythology, and the other a
fun, edgy contemporary that takes place in Las Vegas.
Unfortunately, my agent didn’t love either of them like she loved
Remembrance
, so those books got pushed to the backburner. A
tough fact about publishing is that just because you sign with an
agent on one book, it doesn’t guarantee that they’re going to love
the next books you write, especially if you decide to explore a new
sub-genre.

Flash forward a few months: Now it was Summer
2011. My agent couldn’t sell
Remembrance
and she didn’t love
my other two books enough to push editors at publishing houses to
read them. Then one day in June she called me and said, “I want you
to publish
Remembrance
yourself.”

At first I was appalled by that suggestion.
But I didn’t want to react irrationally, so I told her I would look
into it before coming to a decision.

My instinct to reject her idea was because I
still believed the stigma that an independently published book
wasn’t as good as a book published by a New York house. But I
promised my agent that I would look into the option of publishing
Remembrance
myself, so I started to research.

I discovered that there are many reasons why
authors choose to publish books independently. They might want more
control over every creative step in the publishing process, they
might want freedom to write without worrying about fitting into an
established genre, they might not want to sign away their rights to
the story, and many other reasons. I also read about success
stories like Amanda Hocking’s, and saw that many successful titles
on Amazon are independently published. I realized that from when I
started writing in 2008 to that moment in 2011, I had been so
focused on becoming traditionally published that I had been
oblivious to the dynamic growth of independent publishing happening
around me.

While browsing books on Amazon as an author
and a blogger (I reviewed books at the time), I paid attention to
who published a book. Then I contemplated my browsing process
BEFORE I started writing and blogging. I never paid attention to
who published a book. If a cover grabbed me enough to make me read
the description, and if the description sounded interesting, I
bought the book. To the mainstream reader who isn’t involved with
the industry, the publisher of a book doesn’t matter. They just
want to find a story they’ll enjoy.

After researching independent publishing, I
came to a few conclusions:

1)
Remembrance
would probably never
get picked up by a traditional publishing house because the story
didn’t fit into an established sub-genre of the YA market and I was
an unknown author.

2) It would benefit my career to publish
Remembrance
independently and develop a fan base.

3) With the rising popularity of e-readers
and self-publishing platforms like Kindle Direct Publishing and
Barnes & Noble PubIt, it was easier than ever for independent
authors to get their books into the hands of readers.

4) At the rate things were going,
Remembrance
was going to sit on my computer as a manuscript
forever and never be seen by anyone.

5)
Remembrance
was a great story and
deserved to be shared with the world.

So on July 25, 2011, I published
Remembrance
via CreateSpace, Kindle Direct Publishing,
Barnes & Noble PubIt, and Smashwords.

I was SO EXCITED! I created a Facebook Fan
Page and emailed book bloggers to see if they would review the
book. Hopefully word would spread and
Remembrance
would fly
off the (digital) shelves!

Unbeknownst to me at the time, it doesn’t
work like that.

Luckily, one of my best friends from college
is a YA book blogger, has a Masters in Business Administration with
a focus in marketing, and has interned at a publishing house. When
she saw that I put
Remembrance
online and then announced it
was available for purchase with no pre-publication, publication
week, and post-publication plans other than to get reviews and
write blog posts about the book, she took action. Within a week she
wrote and emailed me a ten-page marketing plan full of different
ways to get my book seen by readers.

Marketing
Remembrance
was a full time
job. There was always something else I could be doing to get the
book seen by more readers. I learned SO MUCH about marketing in the
months following the publication of
Remembrance
that I could
write a book explaining everything I know now. The friend who
helped me with marketing
Remembrance
and I have discussed
writing that book so we can help independent authors who are as
clueless as I was when I first published
Remembrance
.

Now that
Timeless
, the final part of
the Transcend Time Saga, came out on November 20, 2012, I look back
on what I’ve accomplished in the past year and a half with great
pride. I completed the Transcend Time series, edited it, designed
the covers, formatted the paperback and e-versions, went on a
nation-wide book tour where I spoke to over 20,000 students, gained
fans through social media, learned marketing techniques, and sold
over 7,000 books. I had no idea that by publishing independently I
would be starting my own business, and I have come a long way from
the girl who put
Remembrance
online one summer day and hoped
it would sell on its own.

So what’s next?

As rewarding as the experience of
independently publishing
Remembrance
has been, it’s still my
goal to be published by a traditional publishing house. You’re
probably wondering why, and here are my reasons:

1) I want the opportunity to work with a
top-notch YA editor who will push me to make my books the absolute
best they can be.

2) I want my main focus to be writing.
Marketing and publicizing
Remembrance
was an enriching
experience, but in the future I would be happy to have the help of
professionals so I can spend more time working on my books.

3) Publishing houses have resources that are
nearly impossible for me to access as an independent author. They
can get books into public libraries, schools, magazines, physical
bookstores, etc., and those are all places where I would love to
see my books someday.

Here’s what’s going on with me now:

In March 2012, while I was touring high
schools across the country to promote
Remembrance
, my old
agent and I parted ways on friendly terms. Since I had
independently published
Remembrance
there was nothing else
she could do for the book, and she wasn’t the right agent for the
other two YA books I had written.

Less than a month later, I signed with
literary agent Molly Ker Hawn from the Bent Agency for the third
novel I had written—the edgy, fun contemporary YA that takes place
in Las Vegas. Molly is an incredible agent—she’s enthusiastic about
my writing, professional, has years of experience in publishing,
and is excellent at navigating the business. She is also passionate
about YA (young adult) and MG (middle grade) books. Those are the
only genres she represents, which is perfect for me. We spent
months editing my contemporary YA book to get it in the best shape
to show to editors, and she taught me SO much during the editing
process. She recently sent it to editors at traditional publishing
houses, and I’m hoping for good news every day.