Traci Tyne Hilton is an award winning playwright from Portland, Oregon. She earned a degree in History from Portland State University and still lives in the rainiest part of the Pacific Northwest.
Tracy has written grant proposals, blogs, essays on etymology, Bible studies, Sunday School curriculum, novels, short stories, history essays, and plays. She hopes to do many more of the above, God willing and the creek don't rise.
More of Traci's work can be found at www.tracihilton.com
Below, Traci shares her journey to publication:
How many complete novels have you written so far?
I’ve finished the three Mitzy Neuhaus Mysteries, though of course I have at least that many or more that are abandoned in my documents file.
How many of those have been published?
I have self published all three via amazon’s KDP program. Two of them are a little shorter than industry standard, so they work well as indy ebooks.
Years you've been writing:
How long have I been able to hold a pencil? Like most writers, it has been my dream since childhood, one that I intended to follow “once the kids started school.”
First thing you ever had published:
A poem called the Forgotten Forest, about my mom’s hometown, Kinzua. Kinzua was a company logging town in Eastern Oregon that was closed in the late 1970’s, then torn down so that nothing was left of it, but the old house foundations and the golf course. I wrote the poem on vacation when I was 12 and my mom sent it to The Fossil-Times Journal, the paper from the nearest town. They were kind enough to publish it for her.
In a paragraph or two, describe what the road to novel/book publication was like for you.
Publishing for me was like jumping into the deep end of the ocean with both feet, thinking it was a puddle! I had been blogging for a couple of years, and had done a couple of years of Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month) In 2009 I had finally finished a complete novel. I did a sorry job editing it and then claimed my prize of a free proof copy from Createspace. I had a book! In my hand! You know, with Createspace it is very easy to click the button that allows people to buy the book, so I did, not realizing how sorry the editing really was. Friends and family bought it anyway, and liked it.
My brother pestered me to put it up as an ebook. So I pestered him to put his book up (which he still hasn’t done!) One more friend asked me to do it which tipped the scales. One day when I had a free afternoon to reformat, I did. Thus began the craziness that is trying to edit a book on a budget. But eventually I had a clean version up, two sequels, a column in an ezine, memberships in two professional writers organizations, and about 10,000 sales under my belt. I like to laugh and say I’m one of the few writers to get my first unpaid writing clip based on the sales numbers for my novels.
What was the self-publishing process like and would you recommend it?
I do recommend self publishing with these two caveats: Number one: You need to have, or be able to gather, a supportive group of people who can read, critique and edit your books. (People could be replaced by lots of money as these services are also available for hire.) Number Two: Impatience. If the idea of waiting 2-5 years to see your book in the hands of readers makes you crazy, than try the indy route.
Any marketing tips you'd like to share?
Team work and networking. The best bet for marketing is to get to know other writers and work together to promote each other’s work. Facebook and Twitter are great places to make those kind of connections. Also, joining the ACFW has been the best decision I have made as a writer, so look into joining a professional writers organization in your genre, especially if they are supportive of new writers.
Do you have an agent? How did you acquire him/her?
Not yet, but I’m thinking about it.
Are you a fan of writing contests? Why or why not?
I’m not because they cost money and epublishing through the many venues available now is free. What better contest then to give your book to the readers and let them decide? However, this isn’t for the shy or easily discouraged, as people who don’t like your writing are going to be some of the first to speak up.
What do you know now that you wish you knew when you were first starting out?
I think you can guess by the running theme through the other answers. I wish I had known what it takes to properly edit and proofread before I had hit the “publish” button. This is still a struggle for me, though at this point I am sure what I have published is “good enough for indy.”
Three books on writing/publishing you'd recommend:
How is being published different than you thought it would be?
I had never dreamed in my lifetime an author would be able to write, produce, and publish a book that would then have a platform like Amazon to sell from. Absolutely mind blowing.
What are two pieces of advice you would give to writers who are desperately seeking publication?
Listen to feedback, accept it, embrace it, learn from it and never give up!
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