The Joys of Life

For many years I've talked about my world, my books and my hopes to publish them.  Sometimes I felt like I was just blowing hot air, other days I thought I would never achieve my goal.  But now I have done it!

This week I self-published my first book on Amazon!  Yeah, I know, probably won't be a New York best seller, but, hey, I did it!

So here are a few things I learned in the process of doing this.

1) Picture art.  They recommend 300dpi for the cover.  My daughter... I mean my cover artist, (she got paid in shopping trips and mom's eternal love), used a lower dpi when she drew it on her computer and so we had a little problem there.  Nothing that can't be worked through, but just bare that in mind.

2) Also, make sure the picture is in the right format, not PDF and orientated the right direction.  She drew it rotated to the right 90 degrees and even when we flipped it in the cover creator, we had issues with it staying where it should be orientation wise.  So save in the right format and orientation to begin with.

3)Use the templates that KDP offers for your actual manuscript.  Luckily, the nice writing teachers I had through our local community college got us set on the right direction there.  Now, that doesn't mean there won't be format issues. I had about 10 pages I had to go in and manually fix before KDP set up would let me proceed.

4) When you set up the financial information, use a checking/saving account that isn't important, just in case.  We had to start an account for a heat pump loan with a credit union so we put the minimum amount in and just let it sit.  Now I'm using it for the spot to send any money I make on Amazon, (haha).  The reason to do this is so if there is some breach of information at Amazon, you don't lose all your money in a major account.

There you have it.  I'm published.  I hope that everyone who dreams of writing a book can and does.  If you are interested in seeing my book, (which I hope you enjoy), it is at Amazon under "The High King's Sword".  

Happy writing and good luck!

What Size Should My Book Be?

 So once you've determined content, pictures, maps and organization, what size should my book be?

In most cases, with self publishing you are auto defaulted to 6 x 9 inch.  For reading books, this is a great size.  They aren't tiny print, like the 5 x 8 inch, but not the huge size of 8.5 x 11 inch.  But reading books are a little different then a companion book.  There is a lot more information in those companion books and at the very least, the larger the map in print, the better.  

In KDP paper size and color will change the minimum price you have to charge for the book.  I'm assuming that publishers will be the same way.  Look up what size fits not only your look, but your budget.  KDP is a little confusing, because it's example of 300 pages has a minimum amount of 7.42 dollars.  I tried their little calculator for my own books and my 368 page book had a minimum of 8.79, but wouldn't get me out of the red for Expanded Distribution, (to book stores and libraries, basically), until 14 dollars.   So bare that in mind, as well.  Do you just want to sell on Amazon, or would you like libraries and book stores to be able to order it?

Keep on writing!

The Start of a New Year

 Like everyone else, I've made some resolutions for the year, many of them having to do with writing.  I'm almost done with setting up my self published book.  My cover artist, *cough, cough, awesome daughter, cough, cough* is helping me make the cover picture fit the cover then I'm on the way.  So maybe I'll get that resolution out of the way, about 3 years late, but, hey, at least I'm getting there.  

My big resolution for writing this year is to work on a source book for my world.  So twice a week, I plan to share my progress here and hope I can keep up with my writing.

Hopefully you have some good resolutions for the coming year and one I hope we all share is to rid of this stupid Covid mess!

Keep writing!

The Time and Effort Involved

So one of my writing buddies emails our writing group saying she just managed to get an agent at the conference she went to.  And we are all happy for her, to say the least.  She's been working on the concept for this story since she was my elementary son's age and now has grandkids of her her own.  I'm very excited for her.  But in being excited for her I've been thinking on how long have I been working on my own novel concept.  This is what I came up with.

In 1992-93 I was a freshman in college, home sick and totally in over my head (I did eventually graduate in four years with a biology degree, but at the time I felt like I was swimming in water way too deep).  When I get stressed, I write, thus I began working on my original novels about my world of Martapa.  I did get most of three books done by the time I graduated, but then they sat on a shelf gathering dust.

Fast forward to 2004.  After 2 years of successful email roleplaying with the characters who are now center in my current stories I decide that, indeed, they would make an excellent story. That, and I realized as the mortality of my father was made so clear to me that I didn't have forever to get my butt in gear and try to publish a book.

Current times.  I'm editing four long books that some day I will be brave enough to step up to an agent and show.  In the intervining years I have gotten articles published, which in itself was a wonder to feel.  Even though the checks were merely coffee money, the thought that thousands of people were reading your words was awesome!

So I bring this up simply because you can't give up.  If you are writing keep doing it, if for no other reason then for yourself.  My friend never gave up and now she is that much closer to seeing her book in print!
Keep Writing!