Lisa Oltmans, a member of our SM 101 family, has published her memoir!

That’s right! Lisa Oltmans has published her memoir, See You Now: A Memoir of Shane’s Triumph Over SMA, and I’m delighted to welcome her here to share her story with you.

Her guest post today will inspire you in two ways:

(1) You’ll be moved by her faith and endurance in what she describes as “a story of survival against all odds,” and

(2) you’ll be motivated by Lisa’s tenacity in finishing her memoir and publishing it—she’s actually holding her book in her hands! Isn’t that what you want to do, too?

Below she shares specifics about organizing, writing, editing, and publishing—as well as working through her grief, which many of us must also do in writing our own stories. You’ll be inspired by the good tips Lisa offers.

Welcome, Lisa!

On my birthday, February 28, I read Linda’s blog about holding your own book in your hands. I knew what that felt like! And I wanted to let her know how much her Spiritual Memoirs 101 had not only inspired me, but led me to go forward and self-publish my own memoir, See You Now: A Memoir of Shane’s Triumph over SMA.

In 1989, my only son was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy at the tender age of six weeks. The doctors predicted he would die before the age of two. The only Scripture that reached out to pull me back to earth was, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). Through prayer and a daily walk of faith, my husband and I raised our son to adulthood. I felt that Shane’s story, a story of survival against all odds, had to be written for the young families just receiving such a diagnosis and for anyone in a caregiving role for a family member.

Writing the memoir of my son's life was an act of love. Although I could have written this book in any order, I felt that keeping the chapters in chronological order presented my son's life for others who are in the middle of their own battles.

I used my journals and blogs to get started. I took a large loose-leaf notebook and made dividers for each section representing a year of Shane’s life. I scrapbooked in photos, clippings, ticket stubs, notes, and miscellaneous items to jog my memory. I made a spreadsheet with a row for each chapter and columns for the name of the chapter, year, Shane’s age, Shane’s school grade, chapter summary, important events, our employers, teachers, and nurses. Each year has an associated Bible verse because our relationship with Jesus is the catalyst that made my son’s life possible.

Using my outline, I worked through my grief, year by year. It was not an easy process, but it was a cathartic and healing process. I had my moments of doubt. I started over a few times, and it took five years for me to complete my son’s story. 

I used my spreadsheet to keep track of what I had written and what I still needed to write. I color-coded them with a highlighter, red for writing in process, yellow for editing, and green for completed.

To write, I picked a chapter and imagined myself time travelling, using the mementos and photos to jog my memory. Some revived memories were so sharp and painful that I had to skip them to write later.

Filling in the spreadsheet with green highlighter, I printed each chapter after I wrote it on my computer. I placed them in my loose leaf notebook. I found having the printed pages helped encourage me to keep working.

I knew that editing was an important process. After I finished a set of chapters, I sent them to a dear friend who taught English for over twenty years. She marked the edits I needed to polish the book, and she asked for clarification when I was not clear about some things.

For publishing, I researched all the possible methods to get Shane’s story out into the world. At my age, waiting for an agent and a publisher was too time-consuming. Shane taught me that life is short, and it is best lived in action and not in waiting. An e-book can be published free of charge, so first I published Shane's story as an e-book on Smashwords.

I titled the book, See You Now, which was one of Shane’s favorite sayings. He would never let anyone say, “See you later.” Even at a young age, he lived in the moment. My cover was designed by a professional graphic artist for a reasonable charge.

To publish the book as a paperback, I used Amazon’s CreateSpace. It was very exciting to hold a real copy of the book, review it, and then approve it for print.

I’ve received feedback from other families, and Shane’s story has encouraged them in the middle of their own battles. His example has inspired these families to make the effort and help their children get out into the world every day.

I know some of you have such stories of encouragement to share as well. I encourage you to organize your memories and get your story into print. The light of Christ changed our story from one of tragedy to one of triumph.

The world needs these stories, and these examples of how faith changes everything. God is always faithful to those who call out to him in faith for help. Start my friends, and write.  It is worth every second.

Special thanks to Linda for encouraging us all!

And thank you, Lisa, for inspiring us as well! May God use your memoir, See You Now: A Memoir of Shane's Triumph Over SMA, to help many in their own struggles.

For more information click here to see Lisa's author profile and links to her author website.

Have you published your memoir? 

If so, let us know! 

Leave a comment below 

or on SM 101’s Facebook Page. 

Or feel free to send me a private message 

on the Facebook Page.

Tuesday Tidbit: More info about CreateSpace

Sharon Lippincott left this helpful comment

after Thursday’s guest post by Dwight Clough.

(If you missed his post, click on Two self publishing options for memoir authors.)

…CreateSpace is a good option for those who want nothing more than copies for friends and family. You can order ‘real books’ from CreateSpace for less than the cost of printing at home and about the same as a copy shop.

You do not have to list your project on Amazon. Order as many copies as you wish from CreateSpace, then either unlist it or remove it.

Leaving it listed on CreateSpace is a good option though so you can let people who want to read it order their own copies. (You do not have to add a royalty for CreateSpace, leaving the public price the same as wholesale.) If you leave it there and don’t promote it, few will ever order.

You will need to provide tax ID information to set up an account. This is required by their accounting system, but if you receive no royalties, none will be reported to the IRS and you’ll have no extra lines to fill out on your tax return.

Many thanks, Sharon, for that good info.

Sharon Lippincott authored The Heart and Craft of Lifestory Writing: How to Transform Memories into Meaningful Stories and several memoirs and books. She teaches classes and workshops on Lifestory and Memoir Writing, and Writing with All Your Senses. Click here to check out her blog, The Heart and Craft of Life Writing.

Two self publishing options for memoir authors

Today we welcome back Dwight Clough as our guest blogger. 

(If you missed his post last week, 

click on Seven questions to answer as you write your memoir.) 

He’s a Christian editor, publishing consultant, ghostwriter, 

and author of How to write and publish your first book. 

Dwight custom designs services to meet 

his clients’ needs, budget, and schedule.

Two self publishing options for memoir authors

Unless you have a platform of more than 10,000 people, the likelihood that your memoir will be picked up by a traditional publishing company—Christian or otherwise—is close to zero. At one time, that was a problem. No longer. A multitude of self publishing or indie publishing options provide the perfect alternative for memoir authors.

First a caution. Many of these self publishing options are traps. They are extraordinarily expensive. They take away important rights that you should retain as an author. They promise much, deliver little. Tread carefully, and go into indie publishing with your eyes wide open.

Having said that, here are two options I’ve worked with that I absolutely love.

(1) For paperback publishing, I recommend CreateSpace.com. It’s free. (Yes, they do have paid services, but you don’t need to use them—and I never do.) The only thing you pay for is author’s copies that you order, and you are under no obligation to order any number of copies or any copies at all. You can send your readers to CreateSpace’s e-store to purchase your book and/or you can make your book available on Amazon. (They take care of fulfillment, you collect a royalty.) You can also set up your book so readers can order a copy from their favorite bookstore. And, of course, you can purchase author’s copies at a discount which you can sell or give away. You determine the retail price of your book. CreateSpace provides ISBN and bar code for free, so you don’t need to worry about that.

You will need to provide CreateSpace with your financial information so they can pay you a royalty. I’ve never had any trouble with this. CreateSpace works great for authors in the USA and Canada. It may or may not be a good choice in other countries. CreateSpace uses print-on-demand technology. Books are created when they are ordered, so you don’t need to store an expensive inventory (translation: boxes and boxes in your basement or garage).

You will need to provide CreateSpace with print-ready files for both your interior and your cover. This is where most new authors come across as rank amateurs. Take the time to study interior design, or get someone to prepare this file for you. Most self published books are almost unreadable because they are so poorly designed (not to mention poorly edited). And don’t underestimate the importance of your book cover. All of this can be created for free with free software if you know what you’re doing. If you don’t, get help.

(2) For e-book publishing, I recommend Amazon’s Kindle publishing service. Again, it’s free. Kindle is wonderful because your memoir becomes instantly available to readers throughout the world. Your readers can download free software to read your Kindle e-book on almost any device. At https://kdp.amazon.com/ you’ll need to set up a free account, and again, they will ask for financial information so they can pay you. At certain price points you can be eligible for 70% royalty; otherwise you’ll receive 35%. 

CreateSpace does offer a link in their title set up process to convert your book to Kindle. However, that process is not smooth and seamless. Or you can convert your word processing file to HTML and upload that to Kindle. In either case, you’ll need to edit the files to make your book Kindle ready. Here a basic knowledge of HTML is very helpful, because at minimum, you’ll want to include a Kindle-ready, clickable Table of Contents. Again help is available, if you need it.

I hope these suggestions help you bring your memoir to life. I would love to look at what you’re writing.

Dwight co-authored and published a memoir 

by my friend and former coworker, Forrest Zander, 

entitled His Faithfulness Reaches to the Skies.

For more information on the many services 

Dwight offers memoir authors, 

visit http://dwightclough.com/services.

Seven questions to answer as you write your memoir

Today we welcome Dwight Clough as our guest blogger. 

He’s a Christian editor, publishing consultant, ghostwriter, 

and author of How to write and publish your first book. 

Dwight custom designs his services 

to meet his clients’ needs, budget, and schedule.

Seven questions you must answer as you write your memoir

(1) How do you define success for this project?

Do you simply want a beautiful book you can share with family and friends? Or do you want to inspire a new generation to embrace your faith? Or do you want to use your book to gain clients or ministry partners? Or do you need to sell a certain number of copies and make a certain amount of money? These are radically different goals and they require different strategies.

(2) Who is your reader?

If you’re writing your memoir for yourself, then you can write it almost any way you want. But if you’re writing it for someone else, then you need to get inside that person’s head and figure out how they think. What do they know? What don’t they know? What interests them? What bores them? How do you need to explain your message in way that will resonate with them?

(3) What is your message?

What exactly do you want to get across? The more focused you can be on this, the easier it will be to determine what fits, what doesn’t, and whether or not your book is complete.

(4) Why will your reader want to own and read your book?

What does your memoir do for your reader, and why does your reader care? Your story matters. Your message will make a difference in the lives of other people. But your message will have a greater impact if you prayerfully ponder this question. What are the benefits of your book? Be clear on that as you write, so you can add value to every chapter.

(5) How do you want your reader to respond?

Do you want your reader to embrace a certain set of practices? To support a ministry? To respond with awe and worship of God, the Maker of your story?

(6) How will you get your book into the hands of your reader?

How will you reach the readers you want to reach? How will you package and distribute your book so it gets into the hands of the people you want to reach?

(7) How will you achieve your goals?

How will you organize your time so this moves from fantasy to reality? What strengths and weaknesses do you bring into this project? What kind of help do you need, and where will you get that help?

I hope these questions will help you bring focus to your writing and add value to the memoir you are creating. I would love to look at what you’re writing.

Dwight co-authored and published a memoir 

by my friend and former coworker, Forrest Zander, 

entitled His Faithfulness Reaches to the Skies.

For more information on the many services 

Dwight offers memoir authors, visit http://dwightclough.com/services 

Self-publishing done right

If you’re ready to publish your memoir, self-publishing is one option to consider. Self-pub isn’t for everyone, but nowadays it’s more respectable than it used to be. Why? Because many authors are choosing to write well, edit well, and format well.  (Read more at Your Publishing Options.)

Amber Lea Starfire, who consistently offers good advice to memoirists, recently posted 5 Reasons to Self-Publish, comparing self-publishing with traditional publishing.

She lists reasons self-publishing might be your best option:

• No gatekeepers
• Faster Timing
• Full Control
• More Profit
• Continuous Availability

(Click here to read more about each item on her list.)

She cautions that self-publishing takes loads of work and urges memoirists, in the same way I do, to get manuscripts edited and proofed by others in order to craft the most professional book you can.

If you’re thinking of self-publishing, you’ll want to acquaint yourself with all the valuable information Amber Lea Starfire offers here. Click on 5 Reasons to Self-Publish.

Alicia Rades also writes a helpful post, How to Avoid Self-Publishing Regrets. She could write the post because—you guessed it!—she has regrets about the first book she published. “I wish I had taken the time and money to produce a higher-quality book the first time,” she admits.

She offers the following for those who “want your best work out there for the public.”

First, she says, slow down. Don’t rush into publishing. She then lists the following tips:

• Take a breather from your manuscript after each self-edit
• Get feedback; consider hiring a professional editor
• Hire a proofreader
• Pay for a professional cover

(Click here to read more about each item on her list.)

Don’t miss Alicia’s take on self-publishing. Click on How to Avoid Self-Publishing Regrets, and be sure to read comments readers left at the bottom.

And again, like she said, don’t rush into publishing. Take plenty of time to educate yourself and make a wise choice.