My book is only $2.99 on Kindle.
It is hard to 'give' a digital gift, so why not print this image out and put it in a Christmas card, or make it into a gift tag?
I have a pdf version for printing also, if you can't grab this image then let me know (via email - Shonaccole@gmail.com) and I can email you the pdf!
It is a good, clean romance & page turner set in the future, in a fractured America. Written from a perspective of 19 year old Gala there is action, romance, adventure and lots of introspection.
Get it here on Amazon.
In time for Christmas!
December 23, 2014
December 16, 2014
Lead male in my novel
My book, Gala, is a loose re-telling of the story of Ruth.
If you remember, in the Bible, Ruth is a new widow in search of security, identity and family. Ruth travels from her own country to a new land with her widowed mother-in-law. When they settle Ruth and Naomi set their sights on Boaz, an important member of Naomi's people as a possible protector/husband for Ruth.
In Gala all of the names of the characters have been changed. Ruth is Gala, Naomi is Virginia and Boaz is Luke.
I love my Boaz/Luke character. He is a good man, a complicated, beautiful Mr. Darcy. As I wrote I had an image of an actor to work from: Jim Caviezel. He came to life in my writing mind. I love the slight sadness in his eyes and while he is a good man all is not perfect in his world. Because perfection is not a decent read.
I would love you to read the book and spend time getting to know my Boaz/Luke character.
If you remember, in the Bible, Ruth is a new widow in search of security, identity and family. Ruth travels from her own country to a new land with her widowed mother-in-law. When they settle Ruth and Naomi set their sights on Boaz, an important member of Naomi's people as a possible protector/husband for Ruth.
In Gala all of the names of the characters have been changed. Ruth is Gala, Naomi is Virginia and Boaz is Luke.
I love my Boaz/Luke character. He is a good man, a complicated, beautiful Mr. Darcy. As I wrote I had an image of an actor to work from: Jim Caviezel. He came to life in my writing mind. I love the slight sadness in his eyes and while he is a good man all is not perfect in his world. Because perfection is not a decent read.
I would love you to read the book and spend time getting to know my Boaz/Luke character.
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December 13, 2014
Visual inspiration for writers.
I am a visual person. I have to 'see' something to fully believe or grasp concepts or stories. Even in my writing I have to 'see' what I am a writing. As I wrote my novel, Gala, I pictured the scenery, the characters, the houses, the clothing. I kept a desktop file of inspiration images.
I had certain actors in mind to fill the "roles" in my book. I had interior images of buildings to help me see the location of my story. I had music that played on repeat for the four months of creative writing that brought forth this novel. Needless to say, I was not alone when writing.
I won't post all my images at once, but I would like to introduce you the girl I pictured as "Gala" [pronounced Gal-uh, not Gay-la as in the event!!]. Her name is Abby Cornish, an Australian actress who, for me, embodies a vulnerable but strong female.
When I found my cover art on Beetiful.com I couldn't believe how much the cover photo looked like Ms. Cornish! It was meant to be :)
Stay tuned for more images.
If you are a writer I would love to hear what inspires you!
I had certain actors in mind to fill the "roles" in my book. I had interior images of buildings to help me see the location of my story. I had music that played on repeat for the four months of creative writing that brought forth this novel. Needless to say, I was not alone when writing.
I won't post all my images at once, but I would like to introduce you the girl I pictured as "Gala" [pronounced Gal-uh, not Gay-la as in the event!!]. Her name is Abby Cornish, an Australian actress who, for me, embodies a vulnerable but strong female.
I found this images here. |
When I found my cover art on Beetiful.com I couldn't believe how much the cover photo looked like Ms. Cornish! It was meant to be :)
My book is available on Amazon and Kindle.
Stay tuned for more images.
If you are a writer I would love to hear what inspires you!
December 10, 2014
Published on Amazon!
So, yes! I did.
And if I can do this, then anyone can do whatever it is they are dreaming of! I have 6 kids each with very active lives and large personalities. I homeschool them. I have a wonderful cleaning lady who comes weekly, and lot's of friends and emotional support, plus a super busy, loving husband but otherwise I do all my own household work/homeschooling/driving kids around myself. I took longer than someone who works at writing full time would, but I made the time in my busy mamma life for creativity. If I can do this, you can do this!
And it is worth the effort. I have accomplished something I am proud of. I like the characters in this book. I like the tone of the book. I like that it brings to life a Biblical story (it is loosely based on the Book of Ruth). I like the cover, thank you Beetiful Graphic Design!
I am not in this game to sell tons of books or make money. I just wanted to tell a good story. If you do want to buy the book you can buy:
Paper back for $9.49 on Amazon
Kindle for $3.99 on Amazon
If you have bought the paper back, you can also get the Kindle for $1.99 and if you are enrolled in the Kindle unlimited program (which is $9.99 a month) my book, along with 700K other books, is free!
December 06, 2014
Nearly time to publish!
All edits are in, thank you Nicole, reviews are complete and I am almost ready to publish this book! I know it has taken me longer than I planned, but better late than never.
I didn't have an external deadline, just me. So here I am controlling my own path. I guess that launching the book just in time for Christmas is as good an idea as any.
So, if you want a signed copy of the book let me know and I can arrange that. I am selling pre-orders at my church this Sunday.
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September 01, 2014
Serendipity
Matthew and Reese looking to the future |
It is interesting to me that they would come up with this because that is what happens in my story. Matthew hasn't read my book, I did most of my writing at night when he was in bed, and I have not really discussed it with him. The background of Gala is that America is fractured - for example: California and some of the surrounding states have become a country called "New West" while Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas have merged to become "Tristate". New West was a country started with great vision, but has since descended into an pre-1989 East Germany type communism. Gala escapes from New West and travels across a vast area of destroyed land to reach a mysterious, prosperous, old fashioned democracy in Tristate. (It's true, I am truly a conservative Texan!)
I would love Matthew to create a flag for my book! Maybe he and I could work on it together. One day. When we are not so ridiculously busy with school and church and soccer and debate and family and friends and the other stuff that makes up our current, decidedly not dystopian life!
I got the proof of my book. It is in the hands of my editor, Nicole Watson for a final read through. I already know a couple of layout changes I want to make. It will be just what I want it to be when I finally get it up onto the book shelf!
July 30, 2014
Do it for the....
This week I will get closer to uploading my book, Gala, to Amazon and get my proof. Yep. I'm going to do it, even though I have had moments of doubt recently. Why do it?
1) Mark, my husband, said do it.
2) My friends said do it.
3) Some friends and family have taken the time to read and do a light edit, I need to respect their time.
4) I paid for a cover.
5) I paid for a pro edit.
6) My daughter is writing her own books and I need to model publishing for her (like Jeanie James said in the last post comment).
7) I said I would and I need to be true to my word.
8) I always wanted to do this. Why stop now? What do I have to lose?
I was procrastinating last night and saw a news article about a Viner who has become a star due to millions of teenage girl fans. Shawn Mendes has a new song on You Tube that I listened to. I didn't like the song much, but the lyrics inspired me! The irony jolted me - here I was surfing the internet, avoiding working on my novel while this kid singing about not being ordinary, risking making mistakes, taking a shot even if it scary! I woke this morning with my to do list clear.
So this week I will try to wrap up the formatting and probably read it one last time. I am getting closer and closer to being ready. Everyday I do something on this book, all those little things add up! When it will be available on Amazon, I don't know exactly - Nicole, my editor will read the hardcopy once more in case there are any final edits, but hopefully it is pretty close.
1) Mark, my husband, said do it.
2) My friends said do it.
3) Some friends and family have taken the time to read and do a light edit, I need to respect their time.
4) I paid for a cover.
5) I paid for a pro edit.
6) My daughter is writing her own books and I need to model publishing for her (like Jeanie James said in the last post comment).
7) I said I would and I need to be true to my word.
8) I always wanted to do this. Why stop now? What do I have to lose?
I was procrastinating last night and saw a news article about a Viner who has become a star due to millions of teenage girl fans. Shawn Mendes has a new song on You Tube that I listened to. I didn't like the song much, but the lyrics inspired me! The irony jolted me - here I was surfing the internet, avoiding working on my novel while this kid singing about not being ordinary, risking making mistakes, taking a shot even if it scary! I woke this morning with my to do list clear.
So this week I will try to wrap up the formatting and probably read it one last time. I am getting closer and closer to being ready. Everyday I do something on this book, all those little things add up! When it will be available on Amazon, I don't know exactly - Nicole, my editor will read the hardcopy once more in case there are any final edits, but hopefully it is pretty close.
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July 24, 2014
Beautiful Away
I had a month away from home. A month at my old home. The place where I grew up. With my family.
And now - jet lag. Appreciation of what was. Marveling at the speed of it. The indulgence of it. Loving my old life with fresh eyes.
Yes, it is always good to get away, to have a lovely time all the while letting the break build appreciation for the life created at home.
-----
The editing is done on my book, thank you Nicole Watson, she understood my writing and cleaned it up without changing my voice. Priceless really. Now I am formatting my manuscript again for the CreateSpace template. It could have been done by now, but honestly I am dragging my cold feet.
Why? I don't know, something to do with putting myself out there, being bare, reading too many one star Amazon reviews on other books and knowing the boldness of people who would tear you to pieces while they drink their morning coffee. It would be easier to stay home and keep my ideas to myself. It would be easier to write a story for my friends who are delighted that I did it and supportive of my efforts.
Oh, I don't know, something to do with putting myself out there, being bare, realizing that, worse than criticism, the audience may be mute, indifferent, absent. I am a people person. I have never had a strong internal motivation drive. I am a 'clean the house in 30 minutes if a friend says she is on her way' kind of person. I have always worried about turn out at a party. For me to put on a party where no one shows is one of my life's big horrors! I remember when I was 4 hiding on the attic stairs waiting for my birthday party to start and feeling a deep relief when the doorbell finally chimed. It meant that at least someone came. I like a big party. But I know I need a big invite list to get a few people to show up. For this book, in the grand scheme of things, I don't even have a small invite list! As it is today, I don't really want to do the things I should to market my book, to get an audience to read my story. How can someone read a book they don't know about? And given that will the silence ruin my fragile motivation to keep writing? Can I keep doing this just for me?
Yes, I guess I have old fashioned stage fright. Nothing new in the world. Just my version of it and as I am publishing the book myself I have no deadline. I have no one telling me I have to do this or do that. Here in lies freedom, but also the problem. And in that freedom I am dragging my cold feet.
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June 14, 2014
Another round of editing
Waiting to fly |
In the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter what your house looks like. But in reality details do matter and bad details distract.
So the same goes for editing my novel.
I want to the put the best book out there that I can. In order for Gala to be an easy read, and ensure grammar does not distract from the flow of the story, I have decided to do one more round of editing. As I have limited grammar skills, I have farmed that out to someone. That someone is Nicole Watson. She is going carefully through my story finding things I didn't even know were problems!
I am ready to release Gala, to free my table so that I can write my next book. It's a lesson in patience. I am okay with that, just a little more work to make Gala into what it is meant to be. Fully formed and beautiful.
June 07, 2014
Finished book jacket!
"It is the year 2053, 19 year old Gala has lost almost everything - her parents, her husband, her belief in the dictatorship of New West. Living in a fractured America she is faced with a chance to escape and start over in another part of the country. Venturing into unknown territory will Gala find what she desperately desires - acceptance, security and true love? Or is it an unattainable a dream?"
"Gala is a journey of loss, hope and love and is inspired, in part, by the biblical book of Ruth."
"Shona C. Cole is author of the book The Artistic Mother, published by North Light Books. She was born in London, England, raised in Dublin, Ireland. She moved to the US when she married an American student she met while they attended college at Trinity College Dublin. She lives currently in Texas with him and their six children. Shona is a mixed media artist and storyteller."
Thank you to my designer Stefanie Fontecha. Working with her was so easy!
June 06, 2014
Books I have read
I went to school in the 70s and 80s in Ireland and I think there was some kind of progressive experiment going on because we didn't study phonics or grammar! I was not a natural reader, but equally I was not encouraged to read at all growing up or in school. How I can read and write is a mystery to me!
As an adult I have read many books, but only a few stand out in my mind. In general, I enjoy two kinds of books 1) modern literary fiction and 2) fast-paced, easy to read stories.
Here is a (partial) list of type 1 books that I have read and enjoyed (you may notice a book to movie theme here):
Atonement
The book Thief
The Kite Runner
Lovely Bones
Water for Elephants
Wuthering Heights
Trainspotting
Endless Love
Gone Girl
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Love in a Time of Cholera
Solider of the Great War
Many Jean Plaidy books
Sleeping In Eden
Burial Rites
type 2 books:
Twilight
The Notebook
Dear John
Hopeless
(I have read so many more light weight books that I picked up at the grocery store for summer reading, but they are not worth mentioning!)
While I would love to write something that would make the literary world swoon, with perfectly crafted lines, realistically my novel is more along the lines of type 2. And that's ok! There is room in this world for all kinds of stories.
Gala is an easy read. It is a clean (read, no bedroom scenes), emotional, love story, with a fair bit of action thrown in. I like my book. I really do. I like the story because it is based loosely on a beautiful love story in the Bible - Ruth. I used the bones of that story to guide me in crafting this one. I have in mind two more books based on some awesome Old Testament stories. But I get ahead of myself!
If you have a favorite book type or actual book that you would like to recommend, I would love to hear. I need a book to read during my international flight in a few weeks. It will need to be an easy read as I will have my toddler in tow!
June 03, 2014
My voice
This is a lovely photo of my 10 year old, not related to anything! |
I have been around Christian people of all kinds since birth. I grew up with a Christian mother and grandmother, attended Christian schools and summer Bible camps, went weekly to Sunday School, I was very active in the Protestant Girl's Brigade and got 100% on my Bible exams. I have attended church almost every week since the Fall of 1996 when I finally acknowledged I was in need of a savior. Most of the true friends I have had in my life are Christians. My husband is an Elder at our church. Our life revolves around our church friends. I live in Texas, where everyone goes to church, it seems! I know for a fact that we are NOT all judgmental people who live boring lives.
Christians - these are my people. I love my people, but my people did a foolish thing in the last 20 years - they allowed the non-Christian academics and creatives to dominate education, the arts, entertainment and media. They control the voice of our world. They control the content of TV shows we watch. They write and produce the movies we love to go see at the movies. They control the content of education and literature and music and painting. We are often on the sidelines watching as they paint with a massive brush changing the hearts of our children.
But Christians - we do exist! In droves, albeit quiet and sidelined.
Years ago I used to watch the TV show 'Law and Order'. One night I watched a few episodes in a row when I noticed a troubling trend - the baddie was always a young to middle aged, educated father! Men that look like my husband or many of my friend's husbands! I quit watching that show cause it was just depressing! The picture they painted was one that is just not my reality. I know thousands of awesome men who would die rather than harm a woman or child.
To counteract this for a long time I dreamed of writing a realistic, but positive, male character. A man who could make you swoon like Mr. Darcy, or Edward Cullen. A beautiful, strong, good man. A man my girls could search for and my boys could emulate.
Edit Time
For Kindle you just have to have a book cover, but for the print book you need a back cover too. Tonight, I downloaded my book's full print cover. I just love what my designer, Stefanie Fontecha has done, the cover is beautiful - minimalist but emotional. I love the font and the colors.
I am not 100% sure on my back cover text though. I may edit that one last time. That text has to sell my book to people who don't know me or care that I am a super-cool mommy writer! They only want to know what the story is about and if it is worth their time to read it ! That is a big burden for one little paragraph.
If anyone wants to read the back cover text, let me know and I will email it to you! I would love the feedback.
I have sent my novel's file out to one last person to read and then when I get her edits (here's hoping there are not too many) I will be ready to upload the story to Createspace along side the cover. Then I will order a writer's proof. I hope to have that in hand before I go to Ireland. Then I assume I can make any final changes or edits before I hit 'publish'.
My Mum told me tonight about a friend of my sister-in-law who wrote a book and on a whim sent it off to JK Rowling's publisher and it was accepted! She wondered if I should do the same. I thought for a second and then said "no." I feel okay with self publishing. I don't want to involve a third party. I don't want to wait and wonder what they think. I just want to get on with it, put the book out there and mark the project as done!
Once Gala is launched then I will be free to write the next book! I have done the outline of the next book which is called "Sive" (pronounced Si-ve, the 'i' says it's own name). I am ready to get writing again!
Editing my manuscript has been a little tiresome, it is not as thrilling as writing the first draft. But I am so glad each time I go back through it because I invariably find a typo I over-looked, like missing quotation marks or an extra 'o' on to, or my worst offense - mixing tenses! I can't believe how many times I wrote in the present tense when the book is written in the past tense! I wrote the initial story so quickly there are bound to be even more mistakes!
But hopefully, what I publish will be the best it can be. I wish my story all the best as it sails off into the world for love and ridicule. Be strong little tale, your momma believes in you :)
I am not 100% sure on my back cover text though. I may edit that one last time. That text has to sell my book to people who don't know me or care that I am a super-cool mommy writer! They only want to know what the story is about and if it is worth their time to read it ! That is a big burden for one little paragraph.
If anyone wants to read the back cover text, let me know and I will email it to you! I would love the feedback.
I have sent my novel's file out to one last person to read and then when I get her edits (here's hoping there are not too many) I will be ready to upload the story to Createspace along side the cover. Then I will order a writer's proof. I hope to have that in hand before I go to Ireland. Then I assume I can make any final changes or edits before I hit 'publish'.
My Mum told me tonight about a friend of my sister-in-law who wrote a book and on a whim sent it off to JK Rowling's publisher and it was accepted! She wondered if I should do the same. I thought for a second and then said "no." I feel okay with self publishing. I don't want to involve a third party. I don't want to wait and wonder what they think. I just want to get on with it, put the book out there and mark the project as done!
Once Gala is launched then I will be free to write the next book! I have done the outline of the next book which is called "Sive" (pronounced Si-ve, the 'i' says it's own name). I am ready to get writing again!
Editing my manuscript has been a little tiresome, it is not as thrilling as writing the first draft. But I am so glad each time I go back through it because I invariably find a typo I over-looked, like missing quotation marks or an extra 'o' on to, or my worst offense - mixing tenses! I can't believe how many times I wrote in the present tense when the book is written in the past tense! I wrote the initial story so quickly there are bound to be even more mistakes!
But hopefully, what I publish will be the best it can be. I wish my story all the best as it sails off into the world for love and ridicule. Be strong little tale, your momma believes in you :)
May 31, 2014
Imagery and a love story (my own)
Farwell, Texas by Shona Cole 1992 |
Images can inspire words. I have always first been a visual person. I can only learn something if I look at it. I can only do Math problems if I draw them out. And I have found I can only write if I have images to give me that certain feeling (well, and music too, but that is for another post).
The first half of my novel is set in a land that looks like West Texas. In my real life at Christmas, 1992 I visited America for the first time. I had met a man in college in Ireland the year before. We knew each other for only 6 weeks before he returned to the States, but it was enough to change my whole world. He was different from every other man I had met. He was self contained, confident, independent and deeply passionate. We wrote letters when he left, but I never thought I would see him again. I was an Irish college student with no intention of ever leaving Ireland. I had never even been on the European continent let alone the Americas!
In spring and summer, 1992, he was in Germany and later Liechtenstein working for Hilti. He called me out of the blue and invited me to visit him while he was in Germany. My parents said I shouldn't go, we hardly know him and he is a right-wing conservative therefore he could be a crazy maniac! I went anyhow. He met me at the Cologne airport and I was nervous. He was as beautiful and interesting as I remembered but what if my parents were right? What on earth was I doing there? What if the relationship wasn't as romantic as I remembered and I was stuck there for 2 weeks with a total stranger? But, as we stood at that bleak bus stop he touched my hair and I knew it was all good.
We traveled back and forth between Liechtenstein and Ireland that summer and at Christmas when he had returned again to the US he invited me over for a few weeks.
Mark's 1980 Chevy Camaro |
I flew to Dallas and he picked my up in his red Camaro and drove me west to his hometown in Farwell, Texas. I was devastated. It was flat and empty and I thought the place looked like the moon! I had at that point entertained the idea that we could one day marry, but I could not picture myself living in such a rough, flat, brown place! I am from Ireland, I love green and hills!
I took many photos when I was there and journaled and wrote poems and tried to sketch things to make myself love the place. I painted the painting above when I returned home to Ireland from a photo I took at the end of Mark's Mom's street. I saw it as bleak then. I see it as beautiful and romantic now. In reality, of course, it is both.
We did get married, we did move to Texas, not to the Panhandle, but to Houston. It took me years to love Texas. I can honestly say that now I love Texas. I love the man from Texas that I married. I love my husband. I love our life here on 5 acres north of Houston. Houston is green. We have trees (just no hills). We travel every summer to Ireland so I get my fill of beautiful.
My novel is set in Texas. Gala travels there on foot across a ruined land. The year is 2053, America is fractured and Texas has joined with two other states to form the Tristate. It is a place of hope and security in a crumbling world. Yep, my personal biases are stamped all over my novel. Let's call a spade a spade. But I am writing for people like me. Conservative, freedom-cherishing Americans who love the good guys to win!
May 30, 2014
Realistic Expectations
Photo credit - Sophia Cole, my talented niece |
People can only read something if they have heard of it! Obvious enough. But for people to hear about my book then I will need to do some kind of marketing campaign.
And honestly, as I am a busy artistic mother and not a marketer, I don't really have
1) the time or
2) the know how to market a book.
Timewise, I just have to be realistic. It is amazing how much I can get done if I break it down into little chunks and slot the tasks into the quieter parts of my day or, realistically for me, evening. I have been reading blogs describing all things I could do to get the word out. Some of them I am just not going to do, others I can chip away at little by little. Every little step gets me one more potential reader.
Concerning point 2, I can learn how to market. As I said, I have been reading a lot about book launching. Much it seems to swirl around social marketing. I can handle a little of that. Yes, I have this blog and Facebook (Oh, I started a Twitter account! So follow me there too. My twitter name is Shona C Cole, or just Shona Cole, I am not sure! I have 8 followers as of today ;). I am thinking of an Instagram and Pinterest project, I will see how that goes….
Social media is time consuming, I don't have a lot of time. It's a circular problem, but I will do my best!
May 29, 2014
Why I am blogging
Photo by Laura Cole, 10 |
Words can create castles in our minds. I hope that my storytelling actually paints mental images for my readers and the characters arise from the page. In that way I can see my writing as an extension of my decade of visual art.
In Gala, I have tried to used simple words to created a future America, ruined by war, fractured but hopeful, with some compelling characters to love. I am excited to put these words out there into the world and see where they may land. The few people who have read it so far have loved it, but perhaps they are biased as they know me in real life. I will be interested to see what other people who read it think! Not too long now! I plan to publish it before the Fall, 2014.
In the meantime, I will blog a little once in a while about the book writing and launch process and other thoughts. I hope you come back!
May 27, 2014
My new book cover
I was considering a cover for my book and I discovered this universe of pre-made book covers! Yes, there are photographers/designers out there who make covers to sell to authors like me. You pick one, contact the artist, they give you a proof, you agree to it, pay and then they mark it as sold and no one else can have that cover.
I browsed and browsed until I found this cover by Stefanie Fontecha at Beetiful Bookcovers. I simple fell in love with the color and font and the melancholy look on the girl's face. It is perfect for my novel.
And now you know the title of my book! Gala. I will tell you more about the title and the book itself later, but it is at love story/action story.
May 24, 2014
Amazon is the best
So when thinking about where to self-publish my novel I pretty much only considered Amazon. That is the store that we buy 90% of our books. Our family still buys about 75% print books and the rest Kindle. I like to have a real book in my hand. Mark likes to have real books in his awesome library. Matthew does most of the kindle reading, although Lily has recently joined him (She read all the divergent books in a few days). Our kindle broke so now our kindle books are read on the Kindle app on iPhones.
Amazon has two branches of self-publishing: Createspace and Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). As an author you can choose to publish with one or both of these companies, depending on how you want to reach your readers.
Createspace is a direct to print company. You format your book to fit one of their templates and upload a pdf version of it to their website. When someone buys a copy of it they print it. Apparently the quality isn't the best, but it looks and feels like a traditionally published book.
KDP is the direct to Kindle (or Kindle app) company. The formatting for Kindle is different to print. I have had a hard time trying to format my book as I use a Mac. When I convert pages over to ePub format the page breaks disappear on the Kindle previewer! I downloaded other software to fix that issue, called Sigil, which it did. But then I found that Sigil inserted extra spaces between my paragraphs. Ahhhh! So I have gone around and around for days.
I went back to Createspace how to pages and I found that if I publish on Createspace, for $79 they will format my book for kindle for me! It is SO worth that cost. And the other day I popped into Kroger for some milk and bought 'a few other things' and ended up spending $160. It was so easy to spend that amount on food, so why would I quibble over half that amount to save me confusion and headache?
This weekend I hope to start working towards publishing on Createspace!
Oh, and I have a cover too! I love the book cover. I will post a photo of that in my next blog post. (SO excited about my cover!!!)
Amazon has two branches of self-publishing: Createspace and Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). As an author you can choose to publish with one or both of these companies, depending on how you want to reach your readers.
Createspace is a direct to print company. You format your book to fit one of their templates and upload a pdf version of it to their website. When someone buys a copy of it they print it. Apparently the quality isn't the best, but it looks and feels like a traditionally published book.
KDP is the direct to Kindle (or Kindle app) company. The formatting for Kindle is different to print. I have had a hard time trying to format my book as I use a Mac. When I convert pages over to ePub format the page breaks disappear on the Kindle previewer! I downloaded other software to fix that issue, called Sigil, which it did. But then I found that Sigil inserted extra spaces between my paragraphs. Ahhhh! So I have gone around and around for days.
I went back to Createspace how to pages and I found that if I publish on Createspace, for $79 they will format my book for kindle for me! It is SO worth that cost. And the other day I popped into Kroger for some milk and bought 'a few other things' and ended up spending $160. It was so easy to spend that amount on food, so why would I quibble over half that amount to save me confusion and headache?
This weekend I hope to start working towards publishing on Createspace!
Oh, and I have a cover too! I love the book cover. I will post a photo of that in my next blog post. (SO excited about my cover!!!)
May 21, 2014
Back to life - announcing my current project - a novel
Max and I, May 2014 |
As this blog is all about 'The Artistic Life', then I am going to lay out what I am up to artistically:
Writing. Editing. Planning on launching my first novel.
Right now, some of my kids are in the pool, my oldest is at karate, my gymnast is at gym, my third child is at her entrepreneurship class. The baby is driving with my mother, watching and commenting in babble on the world I am sure. So I have a minute to myself to blog!
I am at a point where I am ready to write novel number 2, so I am learning about self-publishing and how to get my first novel out of the top drawer and into print. As my non-fiction book was published by a traditional publisher, I was planning to pursue a traditional published for my novel. I browsed tons of agent websites, but most of them said 'We don't want your book, but if you want to try your luck send us a query letter (one page, one paragraph, a synopsis, the first three chapters, an email, snail mail, or whatever suits us best) that WOWS us, which we probably won't respond to because your book is probably awful anyhow'. I read somewhere that you should contact about 100 agents before you find one interested in you, and only if the stars align! I sent one query letter. Then I quit. I did not want to beg to be noticed. So I left it all for a while. I got on with life (I had my 6th child in January 2013).
Recently a friend of mine read my manuscript and loved it so I decided it would be better to publish it myself than do nothing with it. So I started reading about self publishing. And to my pleasant surprise in the years since I published my first book the publishing industry has changed, a lot! Many authors are realizing they can sell books without the middle men. It is not for the faint hearted. But the more I read the more excited I am about self publishing my novel.
My two favorite self publishing blogs that are chock-a-block with information on the topic are: a wonderful blog by an Irish woman, Catherine Ryan Howard, who has compiled a list of her articles on self-publishing, and JA Konrath's blog A Newbie's Guide to Publishing. I will need many more hours to myself to get through all the information they have packed into their blogs and to learn how to 'launch my book'!
Sure, my DIY campaign may not bear much fruit, but I am already enjoying this path where I am accountable no one but my (albeit right now, theoretical) reader.
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