Writing While Teen

This weekend I'll be giving a workshop at the Palatine Public Library called Writing While Teen. Part I of the workshop (June 26th) is full, but there are still openings for Part II (July 10th). For those who wanted to attend Part I but couldn't, the workshop presentation is available online.

I have my own (nearly) teen writer who just finished his first novel.

With another self-publishing millionaire hitting the news, many authors (some already published, some not) are seriously considering self-publishing as an option to share their work. I think this is a great option for adult authors, but the prevelance of self-publishing in the e-book era means that even young writers can easily self-publish to share their work.

I recently self-published my twelve-year-old son's novel - somewhat accidentally. After he had written his novel, I promised we would print it out for his teachers and grandparents. But I quickly found that self-publishing was so inexpensive (no up-front costs, low per-copy costs for the author) that, with some effort, we could produce a fine looking keepsake for him. And by uploading an e-book version, we were able to share his book with his friends for no cost at all.

If you have an aspiring writer, here's a step-by-step guide to producing a finished product they can be proud of:

1) Critiques, Revisions, More Revisions - I critiqued my son's novel and helped him through several edit drafts. Part of the learning in writing is knowing how to take a critique and how to revise your work. Don't forget this important step in encouraging your young writer. See my post for more on this.

2) Create a Cover - Let your kids go wild with this - after all, they know their story best. Create something in Photoshop (or Draw) or hand-draw and scan in. Whatever works. But in the end, you'll need picture in jpg format to upload for both the e-book and print versions.

3) Format for Smashwords - Smashwords is an e-book store front (like Amazon) that allows FREE e-books (unlike Amazon). Follow the Smashwords formatting instructions exactly to format your Word document. When you upload the final version, your e-book will be formatted for all different kinds of platforms (computers, Kindles, Nook, iPhone).

4) Format for Printing - CreateSpace (Amazon's Print on Demand company) has templates you can download to format your Word document into something that looks like a print book. You can use any font and size you want (we used Ebrima 10 pt). When it's ready, turn it into a PDF and upload to CreateSpace. You will need a front and back cover for your print book, but CreateSpace also has templates for those. You can order a proof copy of your print book before making copies for friends and relatives. The cost of the print book will depend upon the size and number of pages, but our 200 page, 5.25 x 8 paperback cost $5.54 for author copies ($6.93 retail). Which is far cheaper than you could get at the local copy center (as well as looking nicer).

And you're done!

Professional writers will put much more effort into editing, cover and interior design, and of course marketing and reviews. But now even young writers can get an idea of the publishing process by going through it themselves.