| Wed, Mar 16 2011 07:20pm GMT 1 |
Kasi
14 Posts
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Unfortunately my vampire slash werewolf YA book did not get
finished until after the Twilight thing hit the fan, so even though
I had an agent with Trident Media Group I was told over and over by
editors that they don't want to publish anything with vampires in
it right now. They're afraid the market will die out before it gets
to press. Now I'm taking matters into my own hands. I've created a
book cover. I'm busy editing it for the millionth time. It is going
to be released in June. If you want to take a sneak peak, there's a
chapter of Vampires Rule here: http://kasi-kcblake.blogspot.com
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| Sat, Mar 19 2011 01:16pm GMT 2 |
Eddytip
237 Posts
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Hi Kasi,
Vampires ain't my thing, so I hope you'll understand why I'm not
going to read your chapter. What I would be really interested to
know about, is your experiences of publishing your own work. How
you went/are going about it. It's something that I will do if
traditional routes to press fail me. And not just for the
pleasure of seeing my years - probably will be - of work in a
nice bound cover. I'm interested in the marketing/distribution
side of things, who is the best company to work with - Matador
for example - and I would be as satisfied to learn about this as
I am in creating my first novel.
I wish you well in this venture.
Eddy
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| Sat, Mar 19 2011 11:29pm GMT 3 |
Kasi
14 Posts
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Eddy, I researched different places and came across a couple people
who published with both Smashwords and Amazon. Amazon is better
known, but Smashwords puts your ebook into different formats so a
reader can get it on any electronic reader out there. Smashwords
also has a detailed book (free) that shows exactly how to format
your novel before uploading it. Ebook formatting goes against
everything I was taught to do. I also downloaded a program called
Gimp (also free) and used it to make a book cover. I'm busy
marketing now and editing the book (for the millionth time) so that
is as far as I've gotten. I'll get back with you in June and let
you know how it went once I get it out there. Kasi
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| Sat, Mar 19 2011 11:54pm GMT 4 |
Eddytip
237 Posts
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Hi Kasi,
Thanks for coming back. I did take a peek at your website to find
that you were going to ebook your work - was that a new verb that
slipped in then?
I'm still interested to learn how it works out. I think it's
relatively straightforward to get listing with Amazon, but the
trick is getting people to find your work. Otherwise it just sits
there amongst thousand of others. And that's the trick I haven't
found anyone report back on. And nobody says how many they sell
either - another unknown in the publishing world.
Like you, although unpublished, ebooks go against the grain for
me but .........
I might buy a Kindle to see if I like them.
Are you going to get it edited by an editior once you have done
it yourself?
I look forward to your next instalment in June.
Best of luck with it.
Eddy
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| Sat, Apr 9 2011 09:45am IST 5 |
Eddytip
237 Posts
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Off to Biddles/Matador in Kings Lynn (UK) on Thursday, from Bangkok
via Manchester.
The journey had better be worth it, but I'm keen to learn as
much as possible about SP - just in case!
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| Wed, Apr 20 2011 01:43pm IST 6 |
Scaff7
27 Posts
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Hey, just tried looking at your link but it didn't work. I am also
about to self-publish through a company called Pen Press. It would
be good to find out what your experinces are like, and is there
another link where I can see your chapter?
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| Wed, Apr 20 2011 07:31pm IST 7 |
Eddytip
237 Posts
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Hi Scaff,
Is you query addressed to me or Kasi?
Eddy
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| Thu, Apr 21 2011 09:36am IST 8 |
Scaff7
27 Posts
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The
wuery about the link was obviously for Kasi, but I am intrigued
to look at work from lots of different writers so that was for
you both.
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| Thu, Apr 21 2011 09:37am IST 9 |
Scaff7
27 Posts
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Sorry, meant query!
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| Mon, May 9 2011 10:35am IST 10 |
dgaughran
82 Posts
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Best of luck Kasi.
I released my first e-book on Wednesday, and it has been a blast!
Dave
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| Tue, May 17 2011 04:39pm IST 11 |
Eddytip
237 Posts
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Dave,
Can you enlighten me/others on what you mean by 'a blast' please.
Is it selling like hot cakes?
Eddytip
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| Tue, May 17 2011 04:45pm IST 12 |
dgaughran
82 Posts
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Not quite hot cakes, but certainly warm buns in the first week.
But the real fun is in the little things. Seeing a book cover
with your name on it, searching for your name on Amazon and
seeing your listing pop up, having something on sale that anyone
in the world can buy, having strangers read your book, having
strangers leave positive reviews on Amazon about your book, and
people emailing you saying they enjoyed it.
All that is a blast. Sales are nice too, but if your not having
fun, there are easier ways of making money.
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| Tue, May 17 2011 04:55pm IST 13 |
Eddytip
237 Posts
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A very balanced view. I wish you well with the ebook. It's
something I might consider if the first round of agents letters all
say NO. If the sales went moderately well, then maybe I'd self
publish paper books too.
I have the time - being almost twice your age - & interest in
the marketing side, although I'm not expecting to make a living
at it, although being serious about it, I am. It will be next
year before I'm ready though.
Good luck.
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| Tue, May 17 2011 05:04pm IST 14 |
dgaughran
82 Posts
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I started with a short story (a two-story collection actually),
just to test the digital waters, and to get an education in that
side of the business.
I still haven't decided whether to self-publish my novel or not
(the full is still with three agents - but its ticking on eight
months now, so I'm not expecting much there).
I thought a couple of short stories would be good to see if I
could publish to a professional level (which I found I can), if I
enjoyed the marketing side (I do), and if I could make any money
from it (to early to say with any accuracy).
I'm going to publish another short story at the end of the week.
The biggest surprise in the whole endeavour for me is how much my
productivity has risen since I began. It's really amazing.
Dave
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| Tue, May 17 2011 05:49pm IST 15 |
Eddytip
237 Posts
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Mine is a full 100k words who-done-it, which is why it will take me
into next year which ever way I go. I'll be watching your news with
interest & I drop into your blog too from time to time.
Eddy
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