We realized that our members have tons of unanswered questions about writing and self-publishing … about the challenges they face… about book promotion and how to increase the visibility as an author…
So we’ve started Just Ask! – the IWA’s newest initiative to help its members!
Just Ask! is a monthly online meeting (via Zoom platform), with Gabriela Casineanu as a host. Along with her guests, Gabriela (the original IWA founder) will answer the questions of the IWA members have – based on where they are in their writing and author journeys!
As a bestselling author of nine books so far, Gabriela is willing to share what she learned from her journey as an indie author and from helping other authors through coaching. In case she doesn’t have the answers, she’ll look into referring to other resources.
Some of the topics covered on August 8th session of Just Ask!
- Aspects to consider if you’d like to publish under a pen name (instead of your own name)
- On what you might need to pay attention when you’re just starting (from a marketing perspective): do you focus on you as an author? on your book? both? website? social media?
- When do you start posting on social media: when you’re writing? in the editing phase? when you’re launching your book? what information to share?
- What to look for when you need an editor; types of editing …
- Beta readers: their role, how to find them, what to ask …
- A brief overview of the publishing process
- And more…
How our members found this session?
Thank you, Gabriela Casineanu! I joined the session feeling overwhelmed and having hundreds of questions, yet none I could ask. As the conversation was going, my questions started to shape up and your answers filled 2 pages. Looking forward to the next Just Ask session! Thank you for the resources you shared! ~ Andreea Dana Munteanu
Very instructive Just Ask! session. A lot of things to learn about self-publishing, editing, and marketing. Looking forward to the next session. I’ve also taken notes and I have to develop some of the answers. I’m going to open a special file for our Just Ask! sessions and jot down questions for our next session. ~ Barbara Wolf
Thank you, Gabriela, for a very thorough session! Great meeting you all!
Yes, a lot of info for me as well, a lot of food for thought. I somehow feel as if I’ve been shown a fast track to publishing a book! Thank you, I’ll be there next time, too. 🙂 ~ Roxana Radulescu
The meeting was very informative. Lots of practical tips and useful info. It’s great to learn directly from someone with experience publishing successful books. I liked that you provided a realistic picture – I would think that a best-selling author is making decent money from their books. 🙂 ~ Liliana Nakamura McGraw
Resources shared in this session:
• https://vellum.pub/ for formatting books on Mac
• https://www.editors.ca/ – to find out more about Canadian editors, shop around to better understand what you’re looking for
• Christina Mary and Nina Munteanu, two editors who are also IWA members
• https://www.fiverr.com/ – for various services (use with caution, check their ranking, testimonials)
What did we learn from this first Just Ask! session?
- To ask our members to post questions in the Facebook group anytime before the session. This will allow us to group the answers based on the topics requested.
- It might be a good idea to allow non-members to participate in one of these sessions, to get a feeling of what they can get if they join us (Immigrant Writers Association).
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Linkedin to see what else we’re “cooking”! 🙂