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.