Author Lacey Williams on Traditional, Self, and Indie Publishing

Lacy Williams lives in Oklahoma with her husband and her three young children. By day, Lacy is a stay-at-home mom battling dirty diapers and dog-hair dust-bunnies. By night, she is an award-winning novelist. She loves dogs, chocolate Klondike Bars and romantic movies. Her number-crunching husband is her #1 fan.

Lacy combines her love of dogs with her passion for literacy by volunteering with her therapy dog Mr. Bingley in a local Kids Reading to Dogs program (unfortunately much less now—see above re: three little ones).

At a young age, Lacy began imagining alternate endings for her favorite cartoon shows. She soon followed that with a newspaper for the neighborhood kids—"published" on a dot matrix printer!—and notebooks full of stories written in longhand. In high school she took a correspondence course and experienced an editor's red pen for the first time. Thankfully, her passion for writing was strong enough to survive the experience.

Lacey, thank you for stopping by to visit with us today! With a background in “publishing” as a child , it is no surprise that not only are you are traditionally, self, and indie published, but you also have your own imprint, Lacy Williams Books. As a mom of one, I wonder how you are able to get so much done in the publishing world with three young children in tow?

It’s always a balancing act. I feel like I have multiple balls in the air at any given time and mainly I focus on catching the one that’s about to hit the floor. :) I’ve been blessed that I work from home since the kids came along, but I think it must be somewhat like what my friends who work outside the home experience, just on a different schedule. We all have messy houses, don’t get enough sleep, and worry that the kids are getting enough attention. As to publishing, it’s my calling. I believe God gave me this gift for a reason and I have to be a good steward of it. I’m trying to follow His leading for my career and it has definitely been an adventure!

Your life sounds so busy! Your first few novels were published by Love Inspired, who you are still working with. With a traditional publishing contract in hand, what made you venture off into self and inspy publishing?

I came into my writing career wanting to learn, and one of the first things I found out was you have to keep learning. Keep working your craft and writing better books each go around, and stay on top of the industry. I’m a part of several writers’ groups and attend the conferences I can manage in my schedule, and as the publishing industry has changed, I’ve tried to make the best business decisions I can. Publishing contracts aren’t perfect, no matter if you’re published with a big or small house. Neither is self publishing. But there are benefits you have in both sides of publishing and that’s what I wanted to explore. There are also challenges. :)

All good information to know. So, how long does it take you to write a polished novel?

My LIH novels are 70,000 words and I prefer to have 3-4 months from start to finish on one of those. This year I was asked to be a part of a continuity series (three authors writing connected books) and I added one to my schedule, and things have been upended since then. :) But I’m almost through the busy time. For a novella (20k words), I can do a draft in two weeks and spend another two weeks tweaking it.

Wow, that's pretty quick. Especially with your family demands! For your non-traditional novels, how do you do the front cover art work? Do you have an editor to review your work before it goes to press? Do you provide your non-traditional novels in paper format as well as electronic?

I love creating the cover art. It takes another creative part of my brain and is really fun to put together. My mom is a very artsy person and I always wanted to paint like she did and never could manage it, so I guess that’s where some of the creativity comes from. I use Photoshop to make my covers. I do have a freelance editor that I work with and often a proofreader as well. Some of my self published books are available in print. Print-on-demand is a little more cost prohibitive for the reader so I only do it if the book makes sense to put into print.

That is so cool! We all hear that traditional publishers aren’t fond of self-publishing, yet you are doing both. How does Love Inspired feel about you doing these other projects?

What I’ve experienced is that having more books out there and available to readers actually bumps sales across all markets (self published and traditionally published).

Good to know that traditional publishers are now interested in working with indie authors. If you could go back and change one thing about your current hybrid publishing career, what would that be?

Not taking on so many projects this year. I sometimes have problems saying No. I’ve already started practicing for 2015. :)

Keep on practicing ~ that two letter word can be SO hard to say . Tell us a little more about Inspy Kisses LLC. Who is involved. What you do with them. And what your future plans are in this group.

Inspy Kisses LLC is an author co-op. Basically a group of authors got together to put out some anthologies because we wanted to help cross-promote each other’s work and try a fun new project. This year we put out FIRST KISSES, SEALED WITH A KISS and MISTLETOE KISSES, three novella collections that are really fun. In 2015, Inspy Kisses will put out two collections toward the end of the year. Readers who are interested in these releases can sign up for the group newsletter.

Congratulations on that author co-op, sounds great! Now, I am guessing you don’t sleep, because you are also the Managing Editor of Redbud Press, a new inspirational romance publisher. Tell us a little more about that role and that new press.

I was driving home from a writers’ retreat with two other gals I that I know very well. We started talking about the publishing industry and RedbudPress was born. We are a traditional publisher with the way our contracts are written, but very different in the way we will market and our business concept. Almost all of our authors are multi-published authors looking to diversify their careers. Our authors include: Cheryl Wyatt, Janet Tronstad, Camy Tang, Kathleen Y’Barbo, Ruth Axtell, Gayle Roper, Rene Gutteridge & Cheryl McKay (co-authoring), Erica Vetsch and debut author Susan Crawford. My business partners and I are really excited about this new venture. The first books launch in March 2015 and readers can get a sample with two free novellas by signing up for the newsletter at www.redbudpress.com/news

Again, congratulations on co-birthing Redbud Press. And congratulations on your new novel, A Cowboy For Christmas, which releases today!

After an accident leaves her injured, Daisy Richards stays secluded at her family's Wyoming ranch to avoid the town's gawking stares. Yet handsome cowboy newcomer Ricky White insists she can do anything she dreams—ride a horse, decorate a Christmas tree…even steal a man's heart. 

Once a reckless cad, Ricky is to blame for what happened to Daisy. Now reformed, he wants to make amends by setting things right for his boss's beautiful daughter in time for the holidays. But Daisy doesn't know Ricky's responsible for her predicament. When the truth is revealed, will he lose the greatest gift he's ever received—her trust? 

 

Thanks, Heidi! This was a really fun book to write, a little challenging with the heroine’s physical challenge. For instance, I am a mom of small kids and I couldn’t figure out how the heroine would change a diaper with her disability. It gave me great respect for the real people who have to deal with this challenge and how much they persevere every single day.

Lacy, thank you for your time today, it was fun! And congratulations on your success as a hybrid published author!

Thanks for having me! Merry Christmas to you and your readers.