Baby Steps

That's what I feel like I'm taking right now--baby steps. With my mom here, the relatives are coming and going so much, I might need to install a revolving door. Plus, it seems like we take an awful lot of impromptu trips to town for whatever. Then there are the functions. Nephew's graduation, huge family gathering at the cemetery to decorate graves (people drive in from out of state for this), birthdays (hubby, mom, and my niece), and a first time ever family reunion next weekend. I know I've said this before but, I am NOT a social person. I just want to be left alone so I can write, not to mention THINK. I guess that makes me an old stick-in-the-mud (or so I'm told).

Would you be surprised if I told you, progress on the current manuscript is going painfully slow? No? Didn't think so. I recently read someplace that if you want to do something badly enough, you WILL find a way. So, that's what I've been trying to do. Find a way. To write. Even if it's only a few lines a day. I want to get this second book out there. I'm tired of being asked when the next book is coming out and having no answer except, "I'm working on it." 

Meanwhile, even with everything around me in chaos, I've been trying to get my name out there. Trying to network. Very time consuming. Time I should be spending working on the ms., I suppose. Like now, instead of writing this blog post. But it's so much easier to click a few buttons on Facebook than write sparkling dialogue when it's 3:00 in the morning and my mental faculties turned to mush an hour ago. Speaking of Facebook. I got a friend request from some porn queen tonight, complete with racy photos. I declined, but thought it was interesting because that's never happened before. Heh. And now I'm rambling...

It was my intent tonight to get on here and give you a progress report. Even though I've had a few twinge moments for one reason or another, (lots of despicable author shenanigans from the self-published on Amazon forums) I'm still happy with my decision to publish on my own. I'm not burning up the rankings, but sales have been a steady trickle. The key word here is "steady" and I can now report that since publishing on April 26th, I've already surpassed my royalty earnings that I made for the entire year of 2010 while I was under contract with a small press/epub. WITH THE SAME BOOK. THAT'S ALREADY BEEN ON THE MARKET FOUR YEARS. I think that's pretty remarkable. It gives me hope for the future. And that's a good thing. :o)

Sweet dreams, and my apologies for the occasional shouting.

Devon

Publishing The Book

At some point this morning, Angel In The Rain went live on Barnes & Noble. Yippee! So now I have it up on Amazon, B&N, and Smashwords, who will eventually distribute it to Apple, Sony, Kobo and others.

I'm done. At least I've done all I'm going to with publishing this title. Now I can fully concentrate on getting the next book ready for publication.

This publishing stuff is time consuming, but I like the hands-on aspect and being the one in control of my own work. Control freaks, ahoy. This Indie author stuff is definitely for you. ;o)

Devon

Back From The Edge

Hi, all! I'm back. After many months of woolgathering and deep introspection (is there any other kind?), I've decided to return to the land of the living.

As some of you already know, or may have guessed, I've joined the Indie revolution, which is a rather pretentious way of saying, I'm self-publishing. And guess what. I'm loving it! This was a decision I didn't make lightly. And, yes, I've spent a lot of long nights trying to figure out how to do this and that. There's a big learning curve between writing the book and actually publishing the book. In the coming weeks, I hope to share with you some of the things I've learned during this process.

The most fun I had was making my own cover. I think it turned out fairly well, insofar as it reflects the two main characters and one glance lets you know, you're looking at a western historical. What do you think?

Just a year ago, I never would have considered going the indie route. (Ack, the horror! Only people who can't write self-publish. The stigma, the stigma!) But times have changed, and they continue to change, sometimes on a daily basis. After spending four years with a small press/epub, I can tell you with certainty, there are more advantages to putting my work on the market myself. At least, that's true for me.

So, what are your thoughts about the self-publishing frenzy taking place in the publishing industry? Would you ever consider becoming an Indie author? Or is the stigma that's long been associated with it still too real for you?

Devon