Mary L. Schmidt writes under her given name and a pen name, S. Jackson, along with her husband Michael, pen name A Raymond. She grew up in a small Kansas (USA) town and has lived in more than one state since then. At this time, Mary and her husband split their time between homes in Kansas and Colorado as they love the mountains and off-road four-wheeling. Traveling is one of their most favorite things to do and Mary always has a book to read on her Kindle. Books are one of her favorite things. When she was younger, it seemed like every time she turned around, a new library card was needed due to the current one being stamped complete. Diving into a good book made any day perfect and you would be surprised at the number of books she read over and over.
As a child, Mary drew paper dolls, and clothes for them, using watercolor as her medium when painting scenes, especially flowers. She continued with art in high school exploring a wide variety of mediums such as jewelry making, ceramics, leather works, drawing, painting and more! Her creative loves to be an amateur shutterbug and she has an online art gallery.
In college, she went into the sciences, and received a bachelor’s degree in the Science of Nursing. Throughout her nursing career, Michael assisted Mary in her work with The American Cancer Society, March of Dimes, Cub and Boy Scouts, and sponsored children alongside his wife on music trips. Mary’s nursing career was highly successful, and she hung up her nursing hat in December 2012.
Mary and Michael love to read, fish, play poker, go Jeeping, and travel, especially to visit their grandson, Austin, and granddaughter, Emma.
Website: www.whenangelsfly.net
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaryLSchmidt
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MMSchmidtAuthorGDDonley
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mschmidtphotography/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/marylschmidt/
Art Gallery: https://www.deviantart.com/mschmidtartwork/gallery
You self-published your latest book, Her Alibi. Would you please tell us why you chose the self-publishing route?
Unfortunately, my freshman book, When Angels Fly, ended up with “not a reputable” publisher. I was naïve like first book writers usually are and need to try to find a place in the publishing world. That naiveté cost me three years and around $4000 or a bit more. All I will say about this publisher is that they
were under the umbrella of a big five publisher and they took me for money as a newbie.
That was it for me, I took back my book when my contract ended a couple of months later. I redesigned the cover my way, all of it actually, edited, photos placed right, the whole bit, and self-published on Amazon and then eight books later, I was picked up by a publisher friend I knew, we worked together to get two books published under his imprint, and it was game on!
I’ve done digital design and such since around 1995. I was writing code and building websites. Lightbulb moment – create my own publishing company. I did just that very thing. My company, M Schmidt Productions, does many things and publishes via Lightening Source. I have full control over each bit a data there is, and I can easily change BISACs for those that give a book better ranking.
I do my own covers, and all illustrations. Being an artist with an online art gallery, that was a natural process.
I do have the edge just like traditional books, and my books are in brick-and-mortar stores, and in the UK with Waterstones – yet I live in the USA. Distribution was easy as Lightning Source supplies all the books direct from London.
NOTE: I only publish my own books through my imprint. All other author needed services are found on my blog, whenangelsfly.net for a small fee.
Take us through the process. You had the idea for your book, you wrote it, etc.?
Her Alibi is a memoir. As such I lived the events. All of them.
This is my fourth memoir, and thirty-sixth book. After completion of
this book, and publishing it, my husband and I went to Kansas City for a
quick break. While there, I squealed, so says my husband, to find Her Alibi
a number one new release in two categories! I did no pre-sales, but
some people knew what I was writing about, and so that happened, people
had to know how it was done and why. Just like when George Lucas went to
Hawaii for his birthday as he didn’t think Star Wars would go over well
on opening weekend. Surprise! Money for George Lucas whereas I did a
teeny tiny pebble of sand with Her Alibi. You understand what I mean?
What different online stores carry your book?
Stores with actual books are libraries such as Salina Public Library, and some brick and mortar stores such as Waterstones in the UK, and Tattered Cover in Denver – all three locations. Online is everywhere you can order a book, mine are just a internet search away.
So where do you see self-published authors making the biggest mistakes overall?
Don’t edit. Just write it all down. If the words don’t flow, then read. No teacher or relative can edit your book. Try to find the best editor you can afford by asking other writers. Also, most use too broad of a BISAC category and under utilize the power of key words and phrases in the meta data of the literary world.
What do you believe the biggest advantages are when self-publishing?
I have full and total control over each aspect of each book in a good way and not as a “control freak” type of way.
Did you get someone to format your book for you or did you do that?
I have a good friend, another publisher, who has staff that do the formatting for me, and I receive a discount.
What steps are you taking to promote it?
I tweet a lot every day. Once I have my own chosen tweets done, I retweet others. Sort of like a group yet we add more to it every day. Writers need to know that it is not a competition, yet one must have a social media presence.
Do you have any advice you’d like to share with other self-published authors?
“Believe in yourself.” ~ Mary L. Schmidt
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