Book cover does its job

Sheri McGathy's cover for Dark Lady's Stone is really working. 

Yesterday I went to Postal Annex to mail a copy of my book to a family friend. Another customer pointed at the cover, "Oooh! I want to read this one! And I've got some friends who'd like it, too." So I gave her several of the cards I've printed up with the Amazon and Kindle links. 

Then the manager (who was packaging the book) said, "Several local authors have sold a lot of books placing them here. We'd love to carry yours. It looks really interesting." 

So I came home and ordered half a dozen. 

Dark Lady's Stone out in e-Books

Yesterday I got The Dark Lady's Stone up on Smashwords for distribution in various formats to Nook, iBooks, Kobo, and so on. It's available through Kindle as well. What a trip--not only uploading the manuscript but setting prices and getting book descriptions and my biography up on different websites. I keep wanting to tinker, to change a word here, a phrase there. And trying to get the word out that it's published ...  Keeps the old juices churning!

Now it's back to the coffee shop to take a moment to continue work on the sequel.

On Being a New Author

What a scramble! Getting word out about Dark Lady's Stone to all my friends--past and present--relatives, writers' groups, and acquaintances. Lots of fun reconnections... Get business cards printed up with the cover, directing people to Amazon. Thank all the gods for Pages! Every morning I check for sales. I've actually sold 3-4 books! Oooo! Of course it's nothing compared to J. K. Rowling or even "Robert Galbraith." But it's me.

I go to unfry my brain in the coffee shop. I take my proof copy of Dark Lady's Stone and put it out on the table. I've gotten several queries. It's fun to meet people and ask what they like to read.

I'm doing my own formatting for e-publication, Kindle Direct and Smashwords, following their guidelines. Time-consuming but I enjoy tinkering.

Published at last!

Yesterday I uploaded the file with my last edit of Dark Lady's Stone to Create Space, this morning I got the OK, so I hit GO.
I am now a Published Author after nearly 25 years! It should hit Amazon next week and is currently available on Create Space store.
Actually, it feels empty now that it's over.

My book is here!

I'm in the throes of self-publishing The Dark Lady's Stone.  

After JoSelle Vanderhooft went over my manuscript and caught slews of little things, I started to upload it to Create Space. It's quite a learning curve! I downloaded their template and copied my text into it. And discovered all kinds of problems, like text running over the margins. And developing front material--you know the fine-print stuff you skip over but it has to be there anyway.

What to use as a scene break--asterisks are so boring! I settled on an Infinity sign. Dedication, Acknowledgements - remembering all the folks who helped me along the road, Table of Contents and hunting down all those pesky page numbers and--ooops! Discover a slew of widows and orphans to fix. Which changes the page numbers . . . 

Finally it loaded and was printable but it needed proofing. On-line proofing caught lots of mistakes. 

Can I hit Go? [Slather, pant] 

Better order hard copy because it's amazing how many problems stand out on the printed page. I don't want to look like an idiot. 

Wait for hard copy to come, and wait . . . [Sound of drumming fingers.] In the meantime, I read Smashwords manuscript prep instructions like the Bible and start to develop a Kindle file. 

The book came, and it's Beautiful! Sheri McGathy's cover is gorgeous with real pages in the middle. And I get to actually hold my firstborn book in my hand! I've waited 35 years for this. 

I can hit GO!??

Don't be hasty. Little problems do jump out on the printed page. 

Yep, there are lots more. Proofing this hard copy is quite different from the page proofs I used to read as an editorial assistant in the early 60s. Back then, you had to remember all the capitalization, comma policies, formatting quirks in the whole piece and mark the pages (delete, insert). Now I just use "Find" and they're highlighted and, being typesetter as well as author,  I can simply fix 'em. 

My story is out

The Sword & Saga supplement to American Athenaeum's Front Porch issue is out. It contains my story, "The Whitewood Kitarra." This prequel to The Dark Lady's Stone, which I am in the process of self-publishing, tells of how Loriano came to the Karaskan court and was named troubadour to Countess Elisse. Many thanks to editor Hunter Liguore for asking about this story and for her detailed edits to my manuscript.

Progress to publishing

Lots of happenings. I found a musician for the cover of The Dark Lady's Stone and the artist found a Hi Res version, as well as a big black Standing Stone. I checked out 2 versions of the cover with friends, wrote a blurb (That is HARD!), and I should have the final this weekend. The editor's had a few delays, but she'll try to get my manuscript done by the end of next week. Oooo! It's all so exciting!

New Adventure!

I'm deep in the throes of self-publishing The Dark Lady's Stone! I found a free-lance editor to go over my final manuscript for the little things I've undoubtedly missed--grammar, spelling, typos, missing words--and as a bonus she's a poet, who can help with Loriano's troubadour poems. I am also working with a cover artist to come up with a way to depict my story. She and I have spent many hours looking for suitable images on the web. It's a joyful and frustrating process. Standing stones are easy, but I hadn't realized how hard it is to find usable pictures of a guy in his early 20s with shoulder-length brown hair and blue eyes who doesn't look too modern or too wimpy. I wish I were a skilled enough artist to paint my own hero.

Lawrence Durrell to Self-publishing

A couple of weeks ago I stopped by my favorite DVD shop to rent Season II of "Game of Thrones." (Only 10 episodes?? I absolutely cannot wait a whole year for what comes next!) On the "oldies" shelf I happened to notice "The Black Book." "Is that Lawrence Durell's 'Black Book'?" I asked the proprietor. It wasn't, but I remembered when I was in college I'd avidly devoured Durell's Alexandria Quartet and probably reread it 15 times. So, in a fit of nostalgia, I downloaded it onto my iPod Touch. Yes, I had almost memorized Justine, and it still captures me except that now passages I'd kinda passed over as beautiful writing take on new meaning. I've grown up a lot and I'm understanding things I did not back in 1960-61.

And on another note . . .

After considerable thought and feedback, I've decided to self-publish The Dark Lady's Stone. Recent speakers at my RWA chapter, friends, and members of Broad Universe have described how it works, how to format your manuscript, get copy-edits and find a cover artist. The advantages include that you control the whole process and you get to keep profits. I admit that my recent birthday and health have played into this decision, but now that I've made it, it feels right.

In the meantime, I'm working full-steam on the sequel, tentatively entitled The Dark Lady's Troubadour or Troubadour's Quest. My hero and heroine are working through a crisis point, which they must resolve before they can embark on a new stage in their relationship. Their story together is very hard for me to write. Relationship scenes are worse than pulling teeth, and this whole book is full of them! I just want to get past them and on with the story!

Elakanden Calendar

♥ It's Valentine's Day 

I've posted the calendar that is used in Elakand and included our dates for reference. It has twelve, 30-day months plus four feast days, and the Day of Change when the new year begins. The moon cycle is 33 days. I often refer to this calendar when I'm writing.

It's a new year

Happy 2013 everyone!

I'm finally getting time to write after overseeing repairs to the house. Those beastly termites had done a fair bit of crunching on the walls--and paid for it with their lives.

It's a new year and time for resolutions and goals. No, I am not planning to go on a diet. Rather, my personal goals center around staying healthy and in good spirits. I'm going see The Hobbit tomorrow with a writer friend. I love Tolkien and Peter Jackson does a phenomenal job.

As for writing: On Saturday folks in my RWA Chapter set out goals for the coming year. I plan to explore self-publishing for The Dark Lady's Stone and keep working on The Dark Lady's Troubadour, a.k.a. Troubadour's Quest. I also look forward to interacting with my fellow writers--and hopefully readers--both on-line and in person.