Book-A-Versary

Here’s a fun fact for you!  Our title, Liberty will be a year old on Monday.  I still can’t believe it, but it has been a year since we self published our first paranormal YA novel.

I know that Liberty was around way before her pub date, but it is still just as exciting.  We both remember creating the cover, writing each chapter – rewriting each chapter, and setting it out for query after query.  But after several months of giving the traditional road a try, we self published.

I don’t really know how many people have read it as of yet, but I would venture to say around a hundred or so.  While we both had our reservations about self publishing and using Amazon as an outlet to distribute our books, I can honestly say now, I trust the process.

If you are on the fence about just letting it out there, I would say go for it.  But, like us, if your dream is to have an agent and a publisher – don’t stop trying.  Some day we will figure out how to sell our story in three paragraphs on one page, when, I don’t know.

For now though, we will celebrate our book-a-versary and keep working on the second Liberty – Sytes Awakening!  Happy reading and writing!

M. Self publishing is a lonely path

It is tough to compare our experiences as self published authors to the traditional author.  Mainly because we don't have a basis for which to compare, but so far I feel self publishing is a lonely path.

There is the entire world of Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, Goodreads, etc., but no matter how loud you ring your bell and shout your story, only a few are there to hear it.  On a good note, Liberty has received two Goodreads ratings to average out at 4.5 and one small written review.  I don't know how, but some of the people out there are reading and actually liking it.

Despite the minute successes that we have received, there are so many others that we would love to share our stories with and just can't think of how to do it.  You can post comments, try to tell people about it, but when it comes down to it, we are writers and not salesmen.

Which brings me to my point, are any of you traditionally published?  Do you think that having a publisher behind you helps with the lack of feeling alone or is it to the point that they have cut costs and leave you to be a writer and a salesman?

Do you have to be a salesman to be a writer?  If we wanted to be salesmen then we would have followed that path.

LIBERTY

Finally, after a year and a few months of writing, rewriting, editing, & copy-editing, our paranormal thriller, Liberty is available.  We decided, like Tristen, that it would be best to self publish and without further ado, we present:

Liberty Sytes has spent her entire life trying to forget her mother’s schizophrenic episodes, the fear on her mother’s face and the paranoia that would broadcast in her eyes.


However, while standing on the Wildwood Boardwalk, as a part-time class two cop, she begins to remember. Not because of sadness or longing for her mother, but because suddenly she feels the paranoia of being watched.
Unfortunately, the feeling of being watched turns to blacking out and then the blacking out leads to the sights of murder. Libbi is forced to prove her own innocence and sanity after being found directly in the center of a gruesome murder scene.
Will her own new found secrets, if told, prove her innocence or seal her guilt? She remembers one thing, from watching her mother, that it may be best to leave some secrets untold.


LIBERTY is available from Amazon for the Kindle and as a paperback, as well as being available from B&N for the Nook.  The EBook is only 99 cents and the print version is $9.99.

M. Self Publishing, Again

Currently, we are doing the final revisions to our first manuscript, LIBERTY.  We have queried, we have been rejected, we have even had a partial read done.  But, it has come to a point that we are deciding to self publish our second book.

Liberty is a paranormal thriller that skirts on the side of young adult.  Not to mention, because it is our first completed, it is our baby.  Hopefully, in the next few weeks we will be finished with the final copy-edit and the book will be up for sale on Amazon and Barnes and Nobles.

In the coming weeks, as we get closer, there will be a better description and synopsis posted.  For now just know, the second M.A. book is about to hit the world of EBooks.

Pubit

After some minimal research, I have learned that you are able to s-pub your book on the Nook.  If you go to Barnes & Nobles PUBIT you can register with B&N and get set up.  Once you are set up it is similar to Amazon and you can post you book.

It seemed easy and I will give everyone a warning, changing a file to an .EPUB was difficult on my end.  For some reasone every time I tired to just upload to them it deleted half of the information or left it blank.  Unfortunately the only advice that I have is to keep trying and eventually it will work.

I was able to convert the file after about what felt like twelve hours of trying into the correct format.  And, amazingly enough our book is now available for the Kindle, the Nook, and in Paperback!

SELF PUBLISHING aka DIY

Self Publishing

There are two ways to self publish your material through Amazon. You can either publish your book as an eBook or you can create a paperback. Both of the two systems are easy and user friendly.

EBook

To create an eBook on Amazon, all you need is completed material, that you have copyrighted, and the willingness to put yourself out there for the world to see. Once you get out there you will available to the world, so I would recommend being ready when you go.

What you want to do is go into the main Amazon page and scroll down to the bottom of the first page. From there you will see a link that says self publish with us. Click there and then click on get started under the Kindle Books tab.

Go to the bookshelf and follow the instructions. They will give you detailed instructions for uploading and creating the downloadable work. You will be asked to select a 30% or 70% option for royalties and set the price for your work.

Within a day or two, your book will be set up and available for anybody with a Kindle or Kindle App to download. From there you sit back right? No.

The next step is to promote and network, something you should have already been doing. I still am not an expert in this, but as I go I am learning.

For example:

On twitter we are now @maleslie11 (Let us know what your twitter tag is and we can follow you)

Facebook we have www.facebook.com/tristenmagic shop (Looking for fans)

Obviously the blog and looking for more ideas and outlets to network.



Paperback

The next way to publish with Amazon is to use their sub-company, Createspace. That is the tab directly above the eBook publishing for Kindle’s tab. You would go there, create a login, and get started. This is somewhat more difficult.

Now you will have to go through the word document of your MS and turn it into a Book. You will have to set the margins correctly, they have help topics for this and templates. Make sure you have alternating page numbers and the pages mirror each other.

For us it was kind of trial and error, but we were able to create the book with two attempts. After you have created the book and uploaded or created a cover with them, then you order a Proof. Inspect the proof, make the corrections you want, or if there are none, make the book available.

You don’t have to buy any copies of your book other then the proofs and it will be available for sale on Amazon and Createspace. What happens is, when JOE CONSUMER buys your book they order it and the company prints it on demand. No stock and no overhead, unless you buy some of your own copies at cost, which we did. Our kid’s school wants us to go in and do a presentation and we should have a few for that and not all networking should be done on the internet.

If you choose the option to pay $39.00 for a membership then the books will cost you less and you will have more outlets to sell with.

Amazingly enough, in one day, we have already sold a few copies. I don’t know what is going to happen, but it has been fun to do so far.

M. Proof Formating

I know that self-publishing isn’t the same as traditional publishing and the traditional route is a goal that I want to head down. However, the other day, we received our first proof copy of the book and all I can say is it was amazing.


There really aren’t words for the way that I felt when it was in my hands and I looked at the cover. Then when the pages were turned and the smell of fresh ink aroma poured into the air like perfume.

It isn’t as amazing as when your kids are born or other milestones in life, but it is definitely a milestone to hit.

Just like all of the rest of this process, we got right to work on it and came back with only a few small quick fixes. Word to the wise with anyone that does this, take their advice before your first print it will save you time.

Margins are extremely important and if you use their templates, at least for the specs that are needed, then you will save yourself time.

Things we missed:

• We had to add an extra blank page between the acknowledgement and first chapter so that it would open the CH 1 on a right page, personal preference.

• The page numbers had to be changed so that they would be alternating odd and even. Otherwise the odd ones are in the gutter of the binding and hard to read.

• Double check, triple check, and apparently quadruple check the table of contents, somehow I still missed one of the chapters and put it on the wrong page.