Thank you for respecting my work and my time!

 

Months ago I was asked by an IG-Blogger, if I would answer a few questions about my journey as a self-published author and my books, which I gladly did. Since my answers haven’t been published to this date, I have decided to share them here on my own blog.

Not appreciating the time that I made is really unfortunate and it was definitely a lesson for me not to make time for other bloggers, unless I’m 100% certain that it will be appreciated, respected and published.

 

I also received messages on IG from so called book reviewers. Let me tell you this. If you are interested in reading and reviewing my book, please download the ebook and do not insult me by asking me for free copies, when my stories are listed for only $99.00 - $3.99! Seriously!!! Thank you for respecting my work and my time.

So here we go… These were my answers…

Lily

  

1. One fictional character that resembles you the most?

As funny and strange as it may sound, I often see myself in my favourite children book character Pinocchio. Of course I’m not a boy and I’m also not a lying wooden puppet, but Pinocchio’s naivety often reminds me of my own mistakes. Pinocchio believes what he hears and always sees the good in people. He is giving and forgiving. The problem is many people use his naivety and kindness. It seems that the more giving, caring and trustworthy one is the more people take advantage of you and mix up your kindness with stupidity. That’s a hard and painful lesson that I still need to learn.

 

2. What is your writing motivation?

With my memoir my motivation was to write an eye-opening, honest and touching book about the delicate topic Refugees and try to make a change in our society about this important issue.

 

With my children books my writing motivation is to tell stories that are inspiring, entertaining, but also educating. I think stories that we read as children are really important life lessons. The sooner we learn about honesty, integrity, loyalty, kindness and respect towards everyone the better people we become as adults. Unfortunately it seems to me that many parents and teachers don’t pay much attention to these values these days. And this motivates me to write meaningful and educational stories.

 

3. Who's your favourite author?

To this date the Italian author Carlo Collodi with its children book series “The Adventure of Pinocchio”. You probably wonder why a children book series about a wooden puppet is my favourite story. I tell you why. In my opinion Pinocchio’s character and his maker old Geppetto are the most educational story for young and adult readers to this date. Collodi wrote about trust, honesty, kindness, integrity, discipline, respect, self-respect, loyalty and the importance of education. After writing my memoir, I had to find a genre that I enjoyed writing and reading the most and Carlo Collodis stories inspired me to become a children and YA author.   

 

4. Few quickies:
Money or fame? Money. With money you can buy fame! :-)

Commercial fiction or literary fiction? Literary Fiction.
Blogging or vlogging? Blogging

Interviews or book reviews? Definitely Interviews! The only reason why I wrote my memoir Destination Freedom, is to share my story and be the voice for the voiceless. The refugee topic has become a global disaster. The sooner the world and our clueless society understand the difficulties and challenges of these innocent refugees and victims of greed for more power by our global leaders, the better.  

Audiobooks or ebooks? Audiobooks

5. Why did you chose indie publishing?

It took me years to understand that Publishing companies have their own policy and rules. You don’t get rejected, because you’re not a good writer. You also don’t get rejected because your story isn’t interesting. You get rejected for several other reasons.

All my life I was rejected by society, because of my nationality, because of my religion etc. So to be honest I was sick and tired of being rejected once again by an industry that doesn’t care about me, nor my story and my goals in the first place. After receiving dozens of standard rejection letters from Publishers, in Germany, Switzerland, United Kingdom and America, I’ve self-published my memoir in 2004 in English and German. And I re-published it in 2014 with a new title and new cover.

6. How was your experience? Did it differ from your expectations?

The only difference between self-publishing in 2004 and 2014 was social media. Back then we didn’t have all these platforms to promote our work.

7. What do you think is the most important advantage of indie publishing?

The most important advantage is freedom. And Freedom is my favourite word of all. All my life I was looking for Freedom and with this new journey as a self-published author, blogger and illustrator, I have found my peace of mind. I have the freedom to decide what I write and when I publish it. Freedom is the most priceless and powerful gift we have as Indie authors and as a human being.

 

 

8. What do you think is the biggest challenge?

Promoting the book is the biggest challenge. There are many gifted authors who try to make a living with writing. Despite having the benefits of social media it really is hard to stand out and find your readership. Followers are not necessarily your readers and Likes don’t pay the bills.

9. Who's your favourite indie author so far?

In the last 3, 5 years I have met a few talented and passionate Indie authors from all over the world. I not only read their books, but also had the chance to interview and feature their work on my blog or in my blogger magazine Read My Mind. So if you like to discover new books by great Indie authors, check out my blog: lilyamis.blogspot.com or read my seasonal blogger magazine Read My Mind, which is available three times a year (April, July, November) under www.nassima-design.com/RMM/.

 

10. Could you kindly introduce us to your book(s) in brief?

I have written fifteen books to this date and will only introduce five of my babies here. Please visit my website www.LilyAmis.com to find out more about my other books. My print books are available on Amazon. My ebooks and audiobooks are available in several online stores such as Smashwords, Barnes & Noble, Baker & Taylor, Kobo, Apple, Libro and many more.

 

A Dash Of Life

 

Lovely Blog visitors, I hope you are enjoying life, the beautiful summer and our Read My Mind summer issue, while we are already working on the Read My Mind winter issue 2018.

I’m very excited to announce that we will have very interesting interview partners in our next magazine, which will be dedicated to the beautiful country of Austria.

One of our featured interview partners is the lovely American couple Briana and Javier, who are expats living la dolce vita. The two have found their love and passion for traveling and social media. I had the chance to ask them a few personal questions about their adventure as Travel Bloggers and Social media professionals.

Stay tuned for an informative article. If you don’t want to wait until November 2018, check out their website and don’t forget to subscribe to their Newsletter. You can also follow the lovely couple on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Find all the links here!

Stay tuned for more exciting news….
Lots of love & best wishes,
Lily xxx

 

 

www.nassima-design.com/RMM/

 

The Read My Mind Summer Issue 2018 is online!

 

The Read My Mind Summer Issue 2018 is online. This time our magazines topic is Family Friendly Entertainment. We hope you enjoy the articles about Walt Disney, The Fairy Tale King, The Next Generation, God bless the 80es and 90es and the long article about my Childhood Hero.

 

If you haven’t discovered Read  My Mind yet, here is a little history. Read My Mind is an exciting and international magazine with fresh, educational, and informative content. The concept was born in January 2017 and it is available three times a year. In spring, summer, and winter. The official trailers give you a great feeling for the high energy we bring to every page of this gorgeous and colourful magazine, which is available online (free) and in print.

With us you discover new authors, books, movies, publishing news, and you will meet inspiring people and learn about historical places. This magazine is all about making your life better and giving you awesome content that educates & entertains.

While we had permanent bloggers in 2017, we are now featuring only guest bloggers and authors. This time meet American Indie author Author Victoria Dougherty and American author Eleyne Mari Sharp.

Read online      Order in print

  

 

WRITER SERVICES FOR SELFPUBLISHED AUTHORS

How do you support the indie author community? Are you offering any services for writers? Two questions that I gladly answer with YES.

After being a member of the indie writer community for over three and a half years, I’m more than happy to support fellow authors. I know that many authors are mainly writers and not necessarily also graphic designers, illustrators, or PR and social media specialist.

Not only do I offer promotion in my online magazine Read My Mind, I also support authors with my design skills. My online magazine Read My Mind is also available in print. It is out three times a year (March, July, November). Authors can promote their books in my magazine for a reasonable price. I also feature guest bloggers/authors from time to time and offer personalized interviews and reviews.

I know from my own experience that many companies offer services for authors, but their prices are cost prohibitive. I’m not one of them because I’m one of you. I’m a self-published author. I know how hard it is to attain book sales. That’s why I offer fair prices for my design and promotion services.

I design book: covers, illustrations, banners, merchandising, catalogs, bookmarks, and social media graphic posts. For more information please download my writer services file, and if you have any questions don’t hesitate to email me. I’m more than happy to help and advise you with your book publication and promotion.

Lily Amis

Bunny & Turtle ebook is available!

 

Dear Blog visitor, summer is around the corner. I hope you are doing well and enjoying spring. My latest ebook “Bunny & Turtle, snob & shallow verses smart & slow!” was released in April. The print version with colorful illustrations will be available soon. We are still working on the images. So stay tuned….

While my other new book “Leo & Mousi, Refugees Unwanted!” is all about friendship and kindness, the story of “Bunny & Turtle” is about honesty and integrity. Unfortunately too many people make their way through life by fooling others with lies and cheats. Fortunately you can fool yourself and others only for a while, because lies don’t travel far. That’s a hard lesson that bunny will learn the hard way.

Even though these two characters have nothing in common, they do have the same goal. Two successful self-published authors, a turtle from Rome and a bunny from Napoli are competing at a writing contest in Florence! The winning prize is a publishing contract and a movie deal. Who is going to win the contest? The hard-working and honest turtle or the lazy charlatan bunny?

Bunny & Turtle is a timeless story with meaningful, educational, and inspiring messages for children and adults about honesty, integrity, and self-respect! 

Enjoy the read and dont forget honesty is the key to happiness! :-)
Lily