September 04, 2018

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 $0.99 - $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 favorite children's 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 of Refugees and try to make a change in our society about this important issue.
 
With my children's 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 favorite author?
To this date, the Italian author Carlo Collodi with its children's book series “The Adventure of Pinocchio”. You probably wonder why a children's book series about a wooden puppet is my favorite 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 Collodi's 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, 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 favorite 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 favorite 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.