Debrah Martin and Book Works

Do you need help navigating the minefield of self-publishing?
Perhaps you want to write a family history as a keepsake, have already written a book that needs finessing, or have an amazing idea for a novel but don’t know how to start writing it.
Maybe your book is already published but people just don’t seem to be finding it.
This week’s bonus episode guest can help with any of these stumbling blocks, and more.
Debrah Martin is a prolific author who wants to share her knowledge and experience with adults who need guidance on their writing journey.

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Debrah Martin on creativityfound.co.uk
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Music: Day Trips by Ketsa Undercover / Ketsa Creative Commons License Free Music Archive - Ketsa - Day Trips

 Artworks: Emily Portnoi emilyportnoi.co.uk

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Transcript

Claire Waite Brown: 1:23

Hi, I'm Claire, host of this podcast, as well as inspiring listeners with my guests stories of how they found or refound their creativity as grownups, and how that has benefited their everyday lives. Here at creativity found I also want to encourage adults of any age to find their own creative passion. Creativity found.co.uk connects the creatively stifled with the creativity confident and can help you go from Creative suppression to freedom of expression. At creativity found.co.uk You can find a directory of arts and crafts workshops, courses and kits and a membership to support you on your creative journey. The creativity found community also provides support for the small businesses and sole traders who make these workshops happen, and build market and distribute the kits. For instance, with bonus podcast episodes, like this one, to spread the word about their wonderful offerings, and help creativity seekers find them. Do you need help navigating the minefield of self publishing. Perhaps you want to write a family history as a keepsake have already written a book that needs finessing, or have an amazing idea for a novel but don't know how to start writing it. Maybe your book is already published, but people just don't seem to be finding it. This week's bonus episode, guests can help with any of these stumbling blocks, and more. Hi, Debra, how are you?

Unknown: 2:55

Hi, Claire, I'm fine. Thank you. Lovely to be with you.

Claire Waite Brown: 2:58

It's lovely to see you again. You were one of my very earliest podcast guests, talking about your publishing journey, your writing journey, and it's absolutely prolific. Today, however, tell me about

Unknown: 3:13

bookworks bookworks bookworks started because I had to stop teaching face to face, in fact, really because of the pandemic. And so I still wanted to be able to do that. So I set up some of what I used to teach online. And book works was the home for it. So book works also became the home for all my editing, my ghost writing and mentoring services and also the publishing services I offer under my own imprint. So it's kind of a catch all, you know, here is where you come to write, to learn to write have helped writing and have help getting published. Brilliant. So

Claire Waite Brown: 3:53

tell me more about that. Because there are bound to be listeners who have written are thinking of writing have written they think something wonderful already to wonder whether to Publish Self Publish? How can you help with all the very many aspects of writing a book?

Unknown: 4:10

Well, literally right from writing the first word. So I've got some online courses up there, as I said, and then based on what I used to teach face to face, but I also from that move on to editing your book because that is the most essential thing to do. And once you've actually written a book, everyone needs an editor, I have an editor I often have several editor editors for my books, because you just need somebody else to cast their eyes over it objectively. So editing is a very big thing. I do an offer as a service on there. ghostwriting and mentoring actually helping to write your book or you know, putting it into place, even to the extent that you know, I can help you write your autobiography or a biography of a family member. Because some of those things are lovely to do and to have as special keepsakes really because we we do lose those memories of our families. So there's that on there. Publishing and self publishing. I offer those as packages too. Because although we we you know, self publishing has become rife. There's Amazon as Ingram Spark and so many other companies as well. There's so many places you can self publish your book once you've actually got to that point but they are confusing at times and sometimes you need some Ready to guide you through the maze of actually putting your book out there. But the thing that really has only recently come home to me, even though I knew it was sort of swirling around out, there was an experience I had, after being part of the Oxford indie Book Fair at the beginning of April. And that was, having got all the way through from starting to write your book, to then having completed writing it, got it edited, got it published, what do you do with it, then, because nobody seems to really have a handle on how to market their book. And you know, at the end of the day, that is the most important thing, if you've written a book, that's brilliant, but if nobody sees it, or knows about it, I'm not gonna do anything, you're not gonna get any readers for it. So marketing, marketing your book, launching your book, what to do with it, after you've published it. I realised after the opposite indie Book Fair, where so many people came up to me and talk to me about it, and book works, and what could book works do for them, I realised that I've got to just bite the bullet and offer, what I have spent years learning how to do. And I've only really done for myself. But I could offer all of that to help other new authors, whether self published indie published with a small independent publisher, or even traditionally published because traditional publishers don't do your marketing for you anymore. Not unless you're a very, very big name. So that's something new, which I really wanted to tell people about as part of this.

Claire Waite Brown: 7:03

I think that's really important. People do think that the writing of the book, that's the creative part, it can also be a difficult part, the editing of it, the getting it published, but often fall short on that, how do I tell people that this book is here, you can't just put it on Amazon. And then everybody comes and finds it. We've heard this a lot from podcast guests, and other members like yourself at creativity found.co.uk, that marketing and selling doesn't come naturally to them. And you can see so much stuff being told to you do this, do this do this, it can be a minefield to hone it down. So presumably, that's something you can help authors with, from your own experience.

Unknown: 7:49

Absolutely. I think when you said minefield, that is absolutely it. And you can just be completely overwhelmed by all the things you have to do. And there, there are so many things you have to do to actually get a book out there, so that people can start seeing it and reading it. And increasingly, there's more. So it's not just getting your book out on a publishing platform like Amazon, where Amazon is really just a big bookseller big SEO service somewhere to go find your book. So the first hurdle you've got to get over is, have you got all the right keywords for people to go and find it? Is it in the right categories? And those things are really difficult to do, when you don't know what you're doing. And beyond that, it's you know, how do you write the right book description for people to be interested? How do you get reviews for it, which is like the social proof this book is worth reading? How would you promote it actually on Amazon, so it looks like a book that somebody would like to read. So there are things now called a plus content, which is all a bit more promotional advertising, actually, on your books page on Amazon, and all of that, it's all quite technical to do. And of course, I I've mastered these things over the years. But a lot of people you know, they're looking at and they think I can't do all of that. So really, what I wanted to do was put together something which would take somebody, literally from the point of your book goes up for sale, and all the things that need to go with it. But then from there onwards is all you do to actually promote it. So how do you launch your book? How do you make yourself visible on the internet, because this is not just selling your book is also selling you, you know, you become a product when you become an author, as you do when you do anything creative, you're as much the product as what you produce, ironically. And so I mean, some of this can actually apply to anybody. Some of the kind of services marketing services I can offer could apply to anybody who's trying to sell something creative. It's not just a book, it can be artwork, it can be crafts, it can be anything that's linked to creativity and putting yourself out there, though, pulling together a package which goes from when your book first goes out there all the way through. How do you keep marketing it so it includes advertising on Facebook and Amazon? It includes all setting up your social media packages and deciding exactly which bits of social media you're going to be on and how you can cope with it because I mean We can get faced with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and now tick tock tick tock is huge for books book tock is really blowing up for the way everything was blowing up early, you know, years ago on Facebook and Instagram and Twitter. And then moving on to how do you keep all that momentum going? How do you get people who are independently or fans to be directly in touch with you, because Facebook and Amazon won't give you those, that direct contact, you have to actually build that up yourself. So you can create an email list. And then you can send a newsletter out, and you can keep people informed. And they can come directly to you, if you're releasing a new book, or you're doing something with a promotion on a book, and all those things. They all take time and knowledge and expertise. And really, they are the things that people look at and say, Well, I can't do that. I'm not a marketer, I'm a writer, I'm a creator, I'm an artist. And unfortunately, you have to be all those things as well when you are an artist or author or a creator. But there are ways to manage them. And that's what I'm hoping that my my marketing service will offer people a way to get started, cope with it, manage it and manage it successfully. So they don't say, Oh, I can't do that. And all that work they put into creating whatever it is they've created, doesn't go to waste because it just sinks into oblivion. Nobody sees it.

Claire Waite Brown: 11:53

Yeah, that's really important, Deborah, and you can be there as the support as well. Because when we are thinking, Oh my word, what do I need to do next? It's good to have that guidance that planning that help and support along the way. So speaking of which, you've mentioned editing. You've mentioned ghostwriting, you've mentioned marketing? How do people first how do people connect with you, but also what will they find when they want to employ your services so to speak?

Unknown: 12:27

Well, the best way to connect with me obviously, is go to my bookworks website, which is www dot book hyphen works.co.uk. You can email me at info at book hyphen works.co.uk. Or you can email me at info at Deborah Martin DB ra H M AR T i n.co.uk, which is my one of my pen names. So as my adult fiction pen name. So what what would happen? Well, first of all, we would have a chat, you know, make contact via email, we then we'd have a chat, probably a resume or Skype, talk about what somebody is looking to do, what help they need and how I could help them work around what their budget would be. Because obviously, at the end of the day, it all costs money, and you've got to be able to afford it. And you've got to feel like you're getting proper value for money. That's, that's so important, you know, when we have so little spare these days, but you do want to still try and do something, you know, let's let's chat it through and work it out. Then we work out what what package would work. And we go from there. I mean, with the the marketing, I'm going to offer a whole whole everything package. But you can also take bits of it piecemeal, which work for you. And I would always say, we start with talking through what you want to do what you can afford, and what you feel you can cope with. And then we build up a structure to work through based on that, because you've got to be able to count on whatever I do. And I hand over to us to we're going to be able to cope with it. So I set your website up for you. Or I set up an email and a newsletter list for you, you've got to be able to keep it and run it. If I set up some Amazon ads for you, you still got to know how they work. And you know, to be able to keep track on them and what you're spending on them. So I always I would set it all up. But I also train and explain. Because I mean, at the end of the day, I'm also a teacher. So I think the most important thing is you've got knowledge, you pass it on to people you enable people to actually work with it and do something for themselves. So that is all part of what I will be doing. And that applies to everything from ghostwriting and mentoring you through starting to write your book all the way through editing your book, and what to do with what needs to be changed or revised in it through to what do you do when you actually got your book published and want it to sell?

Claire Waite Brown: 14:58

Amazing sound absolutely brilliant. It's a really personal, useful, bespoke kind of service. And I think it can really, really help people. Thank you so much for talking with me today, Deborah, and thank you. I'll see you soon. Yeah, absolutely. Thanks so much for listening to creativity found if your podcast app has the facility please leave a rating and review to help other people find us on Instagram and Facebook follow at creativity found podcast and on Pinterest look for at creativity found. And finally, don't forget to check out creativity found.co.uk The website connecting adults who wants to find a creative outlet with the artists and crafters who can help them tap into their creativity.