Mar/100
What we are looking for RIGHT NOW
Do Life Right, Inc. is actively searching for the next great children’s or YA manuscript about realistic homeschoolers!
Do you have a Hanna West/Nancy Drew/older Madeline/Harriet the Spy type of book about a homeschooler (or group of homeschoolers)? Send it to us! This is the ideal story that we are currently looking for. The characters can be boys or girls.
We’d love to have a mystery with a twist (science fiction, romance, etc.) book to sink our teeth into. We are not looking for child memoirs (written in first or third person), unless your life is crazy interesting and you’ve written a fantastic story about it that entertains us all! Remember that your story must past muster with actual homeschoolers! 
Our submission guidelines calls for “realistic homeschoolers”. What this means is that you’ve actually looked into how homeschoolers today live. Your writing isn’t dependent on stereotypes, misinformation, or outdated data. You’ve met more than a dozen homeschoolers in real life and you know how amazing they are and how unique each of them is. You’ve witnessed first hand what amazing things homeschoolers have done without having gone to school and without needing to go to school five days a week.
How fast are we once a manuscript is accepted? Depending on the level of editing needed and illustration needs, turn around can be as fast as 6 months. If you are accepted today, your work could be a book you are holding in your hands before the end of the year!
What else do we do? Along with publishing your work, we’ll help with marketing, send a treatment to television and movie producers (depending on the manuscript), and much more. We want you to succeed! We are investing in you to succeed so that we can succeed. We are a small and independent publishing company who works professionally with its authors. We require no money from our authors and our royalty rates are higher than traditional publishing houses. Contact us today to find out more.
Mar/100
Lisa Cottrell-Bentley, Owner of Do Life Right, is Interviewed for Small Press Month
Click here to check out the March 2010 interview of Lisa Cottrell-Bentley (me) on Indie-Debut 2010 by Lori Calabrese. I answer never before asked questions about Do Life Right, Inc. and homeschooling in fiction. March is Small Press Month, so I am honored to be highlighted on the Indie-Debut website. So fun!
Mar/100
Who reads submissions to Do Life Right, Inc.?
When a manuscript is submitted to Do Life Right, Inc., it goes through the following process:
(1) I (Lisa) look at it to make sure the submission guidelines are met, if yes, then I take off the author’s name and assign it a number and…
(2) I (Lisa) read it for content and I give it to a minimum of three independently contracted people to read for content. If they all like it, then…
(3) About a dozen homeschoolers aged 9-15 look at it to see if they like the story.
(4) If it passes all those tests, then we start talking contract.
Manuscripts accepted by Do Life Right, Inc. must appeal to today’s homeschoolers!
We can’t wait to read your story!
Mar/100
Marketing!
Here at Do Life Right, Inc. (DLR), we believe in the power of online marketing. Without marketing, books cannot reach their intended readers.
Our authors all receive the following marketing help (at a bare minimum):
- At least one virtual book blog tour — blogs to approach will be 1/2 up to the author and 1/2 up to DLR. Tours will consist of at least 50 blogs over a one week period (books to be printed and mailed at DLR’s expense, but author will be asked to physically do this). Author will be responsible for answering interview questions, etc. and posting the tour sites on his/her website(s).
- Promotional postcards and/or bookmarks based off of the cover art will be made up and given to the author to mail out or give away (at author’s expense). Promotional tattoos, balloons, and other items might be made, depending on the content of the book itself. Authors will always be encouraged to come up with ideas for this. DLR will pay for promotional items on a case-by-case basis.
- DLR will require all of its authors to have a website. DLR will help with set up of the website (if necessary) and will require it to be updated at least once monthly (via blog or new game or *some* sort of new material provided by the author). Further help on this will be a case-by-case basis with the author, depending on the needs of the promotion.
- DLR will help with author and book accounts on amazon, Facebook, twitter, etc. on a case-by-case basis. We feel as though online marketing provides the best bang for the buck and we’ll require each author to have a strong online presence. We realize this is new to some authors, and thus, we’ll give help as needed. Don’t let this part stress you out!
- DLR will send out press releases about each new title to: (a) author’s hometown newspaper, (b) author’s current town’s newspaper(s), (c) several radio shows. All additional press releases are up to the author to send at DLR’s encouragement.
- We’ll give author’s a 50% discount on buying their own books, so they can sell them at book signings, etc. on their own.
- DLR will have a presence at various conferences, fairs, etc., where our authors will be encouraged to share the booth to promote books about homeschoolers. Authors will make higher royalties at the events they attend.
- We’ll also be making sure that all titles are available through Ingram, Baker & Taylor, Amazon, etc., but that is more of a distribution issue rather than a marketing one. All titles will be available in paperback and Kindle, at a minimum. Select titles will be made available in other electronic forms, as well as audio versions.
- DLR will help with the making of book trailers.
Jan/100
Accepting Submissions!
Fabulous News!
Do Life Right, Inc., an independent publishing company based in Sahuarita, Arizona, is now accepting submissions for their 2010-2011 line.
We are currently looking for children’s fiction and young adult (YA) fiction about realistic homeschoolers of today. To find out more information, please read the Submission Guidelines.
Jul/090
Initial steps to decide if indie publishing is for you
- How long have you been writing? If you are new to writing as a craft, then you need to give yourself time to master the craft.
- Do you have a critique group and/or a professional editor? (Is your writing truly the best it can be? Do you listen to the comments you receive?)
- Are you willing to put your money where your mouth is? It’s true that it often takes money to make money. You need to be willing to invest both time and money into yourself. Even with big publishing companies, you’ll be responsible for all your prepublished expenses such as how-to-write books, writing conferences, and meetings. After publication, you’ll most likely be responsible for most of your website maintenance, travel expenses, and promotional activities. With self publishing, you’ll be responsible for 100% of these expenses. With most independent publishing companies and traditional publishing companies, you’ll be responsible for all of these expenses. [Do Life Right, Inc. will help authors learn how to market their books with more bang for their buck, while also investing in its authors.]
- Have you spent a year or longer regularly submitting your work to literary agents and publishers? Have you received feedback as to why you received rejections? If it had to do with the quality of your writing, consider taking a writing course and/or attending writer’s group meetings before submitting again.
- Are you current in your knowledge of the marketplace? Do you know who your market is and how to reach them? All publishers today will expect you to have this knowledge.
- Do you have the time, money, and energy required to make your book a full-time job as long as necessary in order to succeed?
Remember, these are just a few of the many initial questions you must ask yourself as you begin your publishing journey.
Jul/090
Independent Publishing for a New Generation
The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it. –Chinese Proverb
Do Life Right, Inc. has expanded into independent publishing.
Traditional publishers today believe they know the entire market. We believe that no one knows your market quite like you do. Our mission is to empower our authors to brand themselves, market themselves, and to help us publish a high quality book or series of books by them for our specialty market of homeschoolers of today.
Does this mean you have to be alone and do everything yourself? No! You don’t have to reinvent the wheel if you become friends with the wheel maker. We are here to help be your wheel maker.
Our philosophy: Empowering modern day writers to set their own goals and aspirations while giving them the tools to see them through.
If you are a struggling author, take heed. You are not alone. Spend some time on this site learning about modern day publishing options. Independent publishing might not be for you, but traditional publishing also might not be. To learn about the different types of publishing options available today, see Rich Author, Poor Writer.