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Plotting for Publication: Would-be authors have several ways to get published these days
Ferris Robinson’s day job is editing The Mirror, Lookout Mountain’s monthly newspaper, but she loves coming home to her favorite armchair, making room for her dog and a laptop – and writing her own books.
In 2007, a niche publisher, Schiffer, paid her to write “Authentic Log Homes: Restored Timbers for Today’s Homesteads,” a book that showcased 17 log homes built by her husband. Her next book, “The Gorgeless Gourmet’s Cookbook: Practically Fat-Free Recipes for Super-Busy People” was printed by Georgia’s Peachtree Press, a publisher hailed by Georgia Trend magazine for grooming authors who are eventually wooed by heavy-hitters like Random House.
She hasn’t become wealthy from these ventures but “I get a check occasionally in the double digits,” she says with a lighthearted laugh.
Then a friend told her about the Kindle Scout contest, which has been going on for about two years. Competition is fierce with hundreds of authors submitting manuscripts and only 100 chosen this year to be published and sold on Kindle and Amazon, which owns Kindle. Winners get a $1,500 advance, a five-year renewable contract, film and foreign language rights and a 50/50 split of eBook royalties between the author and Amazon.
Robinson entered her newly completed novel, “Making Arrangements.” The heroine, cancer survivor Lang Eldridge, mourns her beloved husband who dies playing tennis and leaves behind secrets that can ruin his widow’s life. The plot combines mystery and family power plays as Eldridge deals with a pushy daughter and adorable granddaughter.