Shorts Season

Exciting news! I will be releasing a short story at the end of of July! So, Friends, I need your opinions and help to spread a little hype.


The working title is Sunset Orange Crush. Like the name? Yes or no, let me know!

Here's the description:

Ali's life has been in pieces much like one of her most treasured mementos that fell and shattered a year ago. Wanting to fix what is broken, Ali returns to the small seaside town where her parents once rented a beachside cottage and she once spent an unforgettable summer. Though time has slipped away like dry sand through parted fingers, Ali's memories of sunsets on the beach, a lost friendship and a first love remain strong. However, in the span bridging her youth to adulthood, much has changed. As Ali searches for so much more than fond recollections of a more innocent time, she discovers love and loss, the healing power of forgiveness and grains of the same magic lingering from that one summer.

At about 23 pages, it's a perfect read for an afternoon on the beach or with your morning coffee on your back porch or while lounging at your local pool club or on a hot, steamy night or ... you get the idea!

I would like to submit it to Kindle Single but it takes 6 weeks for a response and then, anyone with a Nook is left out. And, I don't want to leave out the Nooks! Sorry Kindle Single. Maybe next story.

Actual picture of the setting, Cape Henlopen State Park

More fun! The small seaside town in the description refers to Lewes, DE and Rehoboth Beach, DE with an important bit of the story taking place in Ocean City, MD. Yes, I dreamed up this story about two years ago on trip down there. And, yes I was drinking the well-known in OC MD  alcohol-based drink, the orange crush. Yet, I didn't do much with the story until this past spring when I realized what was missing. There's a nice plot twist towards the end that hit me like one of Oprah's famous "Aha moments."

Even more fun!! I need a photo for the cover and it could be yours (with your permission) because ... 

Photo Cover Contest!!! Share your pictures on my FB page of orange sunsets, orange cocktails or even of the Ferris wheel in Ocean City, Md at dusk (you'll see why when you read the story!) and I may choose your picture as the cover. How cool would that be! 

I know you can do better than this!

Okay! That's it for now ... More teasers to come in future blog posts like a sneak peek at the opening pages, drink recipes to make your own Orange Crush and lots of surprises (even to me as I figure out how to generate some hype - suggestions welcome!).

***One month left to enter to win a

 $10 Starbucks Gift Card!*** 

Check out www.audryfryer.com for details!

This Writer’s Life

Last week, as we bid good-bye to the school year, I felt a pull of nostalgia. Endings always seem to bring out my sentimental side. Once again, my children turn another corner as everyone moves up a grade. In July, my twins turn 8. Eight also matches the number of years since I left teaching. (Well, I wobbled away from teaching, but we’ll get to that.)

Before I set off on this crazy journey as my Facebook alter-ego, “Audry Fryer, Author”, self-published mom-trepreneur and blogger of feel-good posts, I was a teacher. I substituted day-to-day at various elementary schools, taught Kindergaten for a year (despite my best efforts, I was heartbroken not to be given a contract due to the school district downsizing its staff), took on a substitute position for a few months in third grade (and made some fabulous friends), and finished up as a Pre-K teacher (where I made many wonderful memories). I loved teaching, especially younger children. Most likely, I would have done it my whole life. But then, “life” had something to say about that.

I consider this my "before" picture!

About seven months into my pregnancy with twins, I was put on bed rest and took leave from teaching. Little did I know that leave would last eight years and counting! Once the twins were born, I discovered a new reality. Schlepping twin babies and their older toddler brother back and forth Monday through Friday coupled with the fact that I’d owe more in childcare than I made, brought me to a life changing decision.

I took on a new role, “Stay-at-Home Mom”. My husband’s job (once he said yes to every bit of over-time) could pay the bills, at least for us to survive.  I, then, would take care of, well, pretty much everything else. It was a lopsided solution and not my ideal dream, but it worked. Well, it worked to a point. My creative side, the one that had a blast teaching Pre-K, was one grumpy b-otch. I was sleep deprived, exhausted and, counter intuitively, desperate for a creative outlet.

I’ve always enjoyed writing. I used to fill notebooks with poems and simple children’s stories. For a time, I sent out a few to a publisher once or twice. After being rejected a handful of times, I became discouraged. If only I’d known how many times some of the most successful authors had been rejected before they made it big. A handful of rejections is a drop in the bucket, barely a ripple in the pond, but I didn’t know that.

By the time I decided to write a full length novel, I was a dog-tired, worn out mother of twin toddlers and a child in a half-day Pre-K program three days a week. Despite my blurry memories of those early years, I do clearly remember that I wanted to write. Whether I was deliriously optimistic or simply following a dream, I wrote. I propped my feet on my couch, opened my laptop and tapped out a story to my heart’s content. As I worked, I felt energized. Amazingly, I was giving up a time when I could be napping and I didn't miss it.

That story turned out to be the first version of Going Barefoot in Greener Grass. It was a rough first version, but I had done it! I had written a full length novel, piece by piece like fabricating a quilt, and I had done it during the short bits of quiet time I managed to find in my day.

Fast forward to today and the same incentive to continue writing coupled with delirious optimism over making it into a career. As for delirious, these days it’s less from being sleep deprived and more from my three children’s action packed schedules!

Some days I miss being a teacher, especially after spending a morning volunteering in my children’s classrooms. However, just thinking about how much their teachers accomplish in a day makes me exhausted. I’d like to think I could do both, teach and write, but I know better. My husband still works endless overtime hours. I still take care of, well, everything. And, I’m still writing during short bits of quiet time squeezed here and there after taking care of all things domestic.

So, for now, I’ve decided to stay on this new path I’ve chosen for my life. I have to say that the internal rewards have been more satisfying than my turtle paced book sales. It’s easy to feel unmotivated as my writing career looks more like a sprout than a tall blooming sunflower. Over this past year, I have learned about aspects of writing that I never considered back when I typed the opening sentence of my first novel. From improving my social media presence to building my writer’s platform, it can get a little overwhelming. Yet, just when I think of quitting, a new inspiration sparks my imagination and I’m writing again.

Often, I’m drawn to articles or portions of books describing the backgrounds of authors who eventually went on to successful careers. Though the details are different, every one of them faced adversity, rejections and life decisions. The ending to the story of my writing life is still unwritten …

Here’s to delirious optimism! 

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Enter for a chance to win a $10 Starbucks Gift Card at www.audryfryer.com!

Audry Fryer is the author of women's fiction novels:

             

Poolside or on the beach, put these on your summer must-read list!

Looking for some "kick-off your shoes fun"? Check out 

GOING BAREFOOT IN GREENER GRASS

Available for Kindle and Nook.

"Hungry for a page-turner?" Check out

SECRETS, LIES AND APPLE PIES 

Available for Kindle and Nook.

How to Create a Business Plan for Your Book, Guest Post from Nina Amir

Welcome Nina Amir with a post worth checking out whether you are seeking to be traditionally published or self-published. And speaking of worth checking out, if you are serious about finding success, The Author Training Manual is a must read!

How to Create a Business Plan for Your Book

For many years, traditional publishers have required majority of authors to produce business plans for their books. These plans are most often referred to as book proposals. While self-published authors don’t need proposals, every book should start with a business plan.

If you plan to self-publish, as the publishers of your own book, you alone must determine if your books are viable business propositions. If you traditionally publish, you rely on agents, and, ultimately, acquisitions editors, to make this determination, and these publishing professionals do so, at least initially, using the book proposal you prepare. More and more often, writers in all genres, even fiction, who seek traditional publishing deals are asked to turn in a proposal akin to a nonfiction book proposal.

No matter how you want to publish, and whether you write fiction or nonfiction, you should produce a business plan for each and every book you write and publish—before writing a word of your manuscript.

How do you do this? Here are nine questions to help you accumulate the necessary information for the basic sections of a proposal or business plan. Treat each one of these questions as a section of a proposal or business plan.

1. What’s Your Book About and Why Would Someone Want to Read (Buy) It?

Overview—a compelling summary of the book and its benefits

Publishing professionals must be able to tell from reading just one or two pages if your proposed book interests them and has sales potential. If you self-publish, you need to convince yourself that your book is viable and worth investing time and money in. Think of this as your marketing copy.

2. Who Will Read (Buy) Your Book?

Market Analysis—an argument for the potential audience size

Prove that the market for your book is large, or, if small, has a true need for what you have to offer and is willing to spend money on it. Your book must have an audience to earn back the investment made in it—by your or by a publisher.

3. Is Your Book Unique and Necessary?

Competing Books—an evaluation of how your book differs and improves upon published titles and is necessary in the chosen category
Complete an analysis of bestselling books that represent competition to prove your book has the potential to sell well and stand out from top-selling titles in the category. Do this also to feel certain you are writing a book that doesn’t duplicate 100 others already published.

4. Do You Have Enough Content to Fill a Book?

Table of Contents—the structure of your book
Create a snapshot of your whole book that is compelling, makes sense, appears comprehensive, and reassures you, and possibly an acquisitions editor, that you know how you will put the material together.

5. How Will You Describe Your Book’s Content?

Chapter Summaries or Synopsis—a chapter-by-chapter synopsis of your entire book or a synopsis
Elaborate on your nonfiction book’s content by summarizing every chapter. Even if you write fiction, this is a great planning addition to a plan; however, most business plans for novels just have a synopsis.

6. How Will You Ensure You and Your Book Succeed?

Promotion Plan—a mini-plan that details how you will help sell your book upon release to your target market

Create a concrete and believable promotion plan for your book based upon your pre-promotion efforts and your market analysis.

7. Why You Are the Best Person to Write This Book?

Author Bio—your credentials
Write a biography that makes an acquisitions editor or reader feel confident in you as a writer and/or an authority.

Author Platform Description—an illustration of the built-in audience you have created in your books’ target market
Indicate the size or engagement level of your author platform to show that you have pre-promoted yourself and your book and can help sell it.

8. Is This the Only Book You Will Write on This Topic?

Spin-offs—a demonstration that you are a multiple-book author
Publishers prefer to work with writers who have many book ideas. Writers with more than one book make sell more books (make more money). Explains that you plan to write a series, sequels or a follow-up book.

Additional Questions for Indie Authors

If you self-publish, answer these final questions to create some additional sections in your business plan:

1. What are My Definition and Vision of Success?

2. What are My Long Term Goals?

3. What Resources are Necessary to Complete the Book?

4. At What Point Will I Break-Even Financially?

5. How Do I Determine Profit and Loss?

6. What are My Deadlines and Timelines?

7. Who are My Contractors?
8. What Licenses or Legal Documents Do I Need?

8. How Will I Brand Myself?

Once you have answered all these questions and placed the information into a document, you have created a business plan for your book.

Thank you, Nina, for stopping by All Things Audry. I have purchased a copy of The Author Training Manual and have learned valuable information that I can not wait to put into practice. Also, thank you to Jodi Webb for including All Things Audry on this blog tour (and for your patience!). To learn more about Nina Amir's blog tour, go to WOW! Women on Writing.

About the Author

Nina Amir, author of How to Blog a Book: Write, Publish, and Promote Your Work One Post at a Time and The Author Training Manual: Develop Marketable Ideas, Craft Books That Sell, Become the Author Publishers Want, and Self-Publish Effectively, transforms writers into inspired, successful authors, authorpreneurs and blogpreneurs. Known as the Inspiration to Creation Coach, she moves her clients from ideas to finished books as well as to careers as authors by helping them combine their passion and purpose so they create products that positively and meaningfully impact the world. A sought-after author, book, blog-to-book, and results coach, some of Nina’s clients have sold 300,000+ copies of their books, landed deals with major publishing houses and created thriving businesses around their books. She writes four blogs, self-published 12 books and founded National Nonfiction Writing Month, aka the Write Nonfiction in November Challenge.

To learn more about Nina, visit www.ninaamir.com. Get a FREE 5-Day Become a Published Author Series from her when you click here.

"You are enough ..." and Other Words of Wisdom from Maya Angelou

When I saw the news report that Maya Angelou had died, I immediately did a web search of her quotes seeking to revisit her timeless words of wisdom and maybe discover a few I've never heard. As tributes poured forth, I easily found many gems. Of course, I couldn't resist going on Pinterest and adding a few pins to my board To Inspire.  And, get this, I transformed one of my pictures using a photo writer app to include a favorite quote that fit too perfectly. Check it out:

(Side story: The day before this rainbow appeared, we had been hit by a rare hail storm. While the quarter size hail did minor damage to our vehicles and to my garden, ten to fifteen miles away received much worse, as in golf ball size. I'm glad it was a rainbow and a photo moment on this day. Look close, it's a double!)

As I read quote after quote, such as:

"I've learned people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

"My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style."

"Nothing can dim the light which shines from within."

"One isn't necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can't be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest."

"If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be."

I came across this quote:

"You are enough. You have nothing to prove to anybody." 

These simple words, "You are enough", more than any other quote produced such a sense of calm.

I don't go through the world feeling like I have to prove myself, but I do carry "worry" with me nearly everywhere I go. As a mom of three, there's always something, or more like many things, to produce a hardy batch of anxiety. I worry that I forgot something (it's usually the water bottle for soccer practice), that I'll be late (I'm always five minutes late), that whatever I'm wearing is the right look and/or appropriate attire for the temperature (like anyone is taking notes), that this writing career is worth the time and effort (it is worth it). 

The truth is, like most of you reading this, I worry if all that I do is enough. No one ever wants to fall short, especially if you're a parent. But, you know what? This quote is about who you are, not what or how you do it. And, so if I may be a "rainbow in your cloud", allow me to share with you the words of a wise woman:

"You are enough." 

Believe it and repeat it! 

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Audry Fryer is the author of two women's fiction novels:

 

Learn more at www.audryfryer.com

Hungry for a page-turner? Check out a novel of delicious deceptions:
SECRETS, LIES AND APPLE PIES is available for Kindle and Nook.

Looking for some kick-off-your-shoes fun? Check out what happens when two friends become green with envy in:
GOING BAREFOOT IN GREENER GRASS is available for Kindle and Nook.