Book Sale

I’m popping in with some news today.

The Summer/Winter Sale at Smashwords starts today and runs until the end of the month. The first three books in both of my series are free. The remaining books are half price. There are loads of good books on sale, so take a little time to peruse the site for some great summer reading.

http://www.smashwords.com

At long last, Murder Runs Amok is finished! This book WILL be published this month! I’ve never taken so long to write a book, but now that the logjam has been broken, I feel like I’m on fire. The editing is going well, I’m making notes and a rudimentary outline for the next book in the series, and I know how I want to finish the book that’s been dragging in my new series. Everything feels right in my writing world – much like it used to.

The book has to be a success; there is a dog on the cover!

In other news …

I’m still riding my bike as much as possible. I rode almost 14 miles a couple days ago – a record for me.

Rich and I have been out on the motorcycle on the hottest days we’ve had so far. I still love riding with the sun on my face and the wind in my hair.

For the first time in thirty years, I’ve started wearing shorts. Yep. My legs haven’t seen sun for thirty years! They were shockingly white but are finally getting some color. I suppose that’s too much information, but I’m so happy to have lost enough weight to be comfortable in a pair of shorts. Now, a swimming suit? That’s a whole ‘nother animal. My stomach will have to wonder about the sun for a few more pounds yet. 😊

I’ll leave you with this. Rich has been sitting on the deck feeding blue jays and squirrels. The blue jays are now standing on the rail and making loads of noise, trying to get him to come out of the house and give them peanuts. The squirrels are bolder. They come up and knock on the door.

What’s new with you? Are you on fire, too? Has your summer started off with a bang? Do you have critters knocking on your door?

A New Book for a New Year

I’m celebrating the New Year with a book!

I’m excited to announce Murder Under Construction, the first book in my new series, Two Sisters and a Journalist, is published and available at Smashwords and will be available in a few hours at Amazon. It will become available at other outlets as Smashwords distributes the book.

This is the book that came to me out of the blue one day. While my sister was in the doctor’s office, I waited for her in my car. I found a little notebook in my purse, and I started scribbling. By the time she came out, I had scribbled almost 1300 words.

You won’t find pink on the covers of the new series. The main character, Jo Ravens, isn’t a girly girl. In fact, at times, she doesn’t act very lady-like. She’s not a shopaholic, men don’t swoon over her, and she’s not a crier.

The new series will be more true mystery than the Susan Hunter books, but don’t worry – they’ll still have my own brand of silliness in them. I enjoy writing lighter fare, and the genre for this new series will be humorous mystery.

Four people have read the book so far.

My mother loved the book. She said she liked it better than my Susan Hunter books.

My sister enjoyed the book and said she couldn’t put it down until she finished it; however, she said she likes the Susan Hunter books more. Secretly, I think she loves Mick. That’s what’s going on there.

My dear friend over there in Australia, David Harding, read the book and gave me a wonderful surprise one day by sending this email to me:

Hi Maddie!
Sorry I took so long but I finished your lovely new book and it is great!!!!
I’m so torn – do I like this better than Susan H? I don’t know! It’s so amazing both of these worlds came out of your head! Wow!
And how in the world do you go about writing a mystery that makes sense and is exciting (and funny). I don’t know that either!
So good!
David

His email put me on top of the world. (Of course! Because he’s Down Under!)

And last but not least, my sweet friend, Jackie, wrote a review for the book for my post today. Oh, did I mention the journalist in the book is named Jackie?  Yep! Once again, a blogger provides inspiration for one of my characters.

“Maddie’s new book is a funny, feel good cozy mystery. Even though it has a dead body (I mean a good mystery has to have a dead body!), the dialog between the two sisters and the journalist (which is my favorite, but I am a bit prejudiced) is filled with laughter and love. The secondary characters are believable and round out the book in a great way! I found myself laughing out loud in places and cheering the ladies on! If you want a great read, go get this book and see what Maddie does so well – write good, fun books!” ~Jackie

I love my early readers!

And yes, I allowed the first line to stand. It was, after all, what started the series.  I swear that body was hard as a rock when my butt bounced off it.

So let’s give some books away to start the New Year!

If you would like an eBook copy of Murder Under Construction, leave a comment and tell me how you would like to receive the book – through Amazon or via a coupon code at Smashwords. I’m offering a limited number of books, but at least thirty, so don’t be shy about asking!

If you are shy (cough, cough, men who like my books but don’t want others to know), feel free to ask for the book through email. My email address is on my About page.        

You can leave comments about other things, too.

Onward and upward! The second book in this new series is the book I wrote for National Novel Writing Month in November – Murder Is Where the Heart Is. Hopefully, I’ll get that book under control and publish it soon, too!

Is Your Book Cover A Stinker?

I know I’ve had a lot of posts lately about my books, but I promise I have a bacon post coming up.

*** BACON ***

If you are a man reading this, please comment as to if that word caused some type of reaction within you. I’d like to know for my research.

Today, I want to talk about book covers. I’m not an expert, and for as many times as I’ve changed my covers, I am definitely not the person to be giving you advice.

The look of a cover is not a deal breaker for me, but some definitely pull me in more than others. I do like when a cover gives me an idea about the book – at least the genre. I saw a lovely cover recently that gave the impression of being a memoir, both via the title and the soft abstract style of the design. I was surprised to read the blurb and discover it was a romantic comedy.

I know my covers don’t follow the rules of the experts. They wouldn’t like the font, the placement of my name, or the fact that they are on the “busy” side. They would be critical of my using a clichéd pink theme for chick lit. I don’t care. I wanted pink covers, and I was going to have them.

It was my idea to have Susan in gym clothes with a racquet in Florida. I thought racquetball would play a strong role in all of the books, but it doesn’t. It isn’t even the main theme of Sunshine Hunter.

After the fifth book was published, I knew it was time to make the first one free. Then it hit me – change the cover again! I sent this note to my niece: “You won’t believe this, but I want to go back to Sunshine Hunter. I think the sports theme is keeping people from giving the book a chance.”

The book is chick lit first. There is a mystery, a little romance, and some humor. Having a racquet on the cover was definitely giving the wrong impression. I think I realized this several months back, but I didn’t act on the nagging feelings.

The book went free at Barnes & Noble on February 20. The cover change showed up the next morning. I saw later that the book was promptly listed by two Nook Facebook sites, and the downloads at Barnes & Noble started right away. I didn’t know it at the time, but sales of the other books in the series started the very next day.

I truly believe that changing the cover on Sunshine Hunter to a cuter, more girly cover representing Chick Lit made a huge difference in people choosing to download the book or not. To all of the over 20,000 people who have downloaded the book so far – thank you! Thank you to everyone who has read their download, and another big thank you if you have chosen to read more of Susan’s (mis)adventures. I’m grateful and appreciative.

Bacon post coming up. I promise!

Have you always loved your book cover? Have you had any nagging feelings about it? Have you changed your cover, and if so, how many times? I know I’m not alone in this.

It’s All Good News!

The cover for Sunshine Hunter has been updated. Hurray for no more gym clothes!

We’ve come a long way from the first cover:

My niece has done a wonderful job for me. I was delighted with my first Susan Hunter cover, and I’ve been delighted with every cover in between. I think we’re both getting better at what we do. 🙂

My next big news is that I’ve decided to make Sunshine Hunter a FREE book – permanently.  Now that there are five books, with a sixth on the way, I think having the first book in the series for free is a good move. I’m finding that many people who have read the first book have gone on to read more (if not all) of the books in the series.

I’ve already made the cover change and the price change at Smashwords. You can go there and download the book for any eReader (to be sideloaded) – or to read on your PC. When the book is approved for their premium catalog in a few days, it will be distributed with the new cover and pricing to all of their outlets – Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Sony, Apple, and Diesel Books.

Amazon doesn’t allow me to list the price as free, but they will match the price when the other outlets have updated to free. When the changes have been made everywhere, I hope to do some fun marketing.

I’m looking forward to a good year!

Edited to add: A few minutes before 6:00 p.m. today (15th), the changes to Sunshine Hunter were approved for the premium catalog at Smashwords. Less than 24 hours! That was so fast! It will be going out to major outlets soon.

There’s A Bloody Mary at the End of the Mayan Calendar

My new book is published! I’m celebrating with a Bloody Mary that has been spiced up with jalapeno dust.

This is the book I wrote in November for National Novel Writing Month. Start to finish, November 3 to December 21, and I squeaked in under the end-of-the-world deadline. I hit the publish button at Smashwords at 8:00 p.m. and at Amazon at 9:27 p.m.

Windy City Hunter is live at Smashwords, and will go live at Amazon, hopefully, by morning. It will be at Barnes & Noble and other outlets as Smashwords distributes and retailers update their inventory.

I want to share some fun things with you about the book:

– One of my favorite bloggers is a genuinely nice guy with a great sense of humor – Christopher De Voss. His blog posts, and his one-liners in blog comments, tickle my funny bone. Chris is a poker player and a zombie expert, and he recently had a story published in Undead Uncensored, an anthology from the Zombie Survival Crew.

I asked him for permission to use his name for a cameo appearance in my book under the name of Chris/Christopher De Floss. He was a peach to say yes, and he promised not to sue me. After the initial scene with Chris in chapter three, he’s mentioned six more times throughout the book, and that includes prominence in the ending. It’s pretty cool, and if you don’t think you want to wade through all of the Susan Hunter books, read this one. It stands alone just fine, and I think it will even entertain the guys.

– Glenno at Erehwon, a.k.a Arnold the Armadillo, enjoys photography. I took a fancy to one of his photos, and he sent the original to me. Rich printed it, framed it, and it now hangs above my desk. I described this photo and one other (b/w with red door) as paintings in the book. They are now hanging in a fictitious art gallery on Rush Street in Chicago.

– At the last minute (truly, just a couple of hours ago), I made two small changes in the book as shout-outs to David Harding. I won’t say what they are at this time, but will wait for him to read and see if he finds them. Don’t shake your head like that. He will read the book.

I want to thank all of you, my blogging friends, who have been helpful, encouraging, and supportive while I was writing this year. It’s truly appreciated. I still can’t believe I started writing and actually published these books; it’s quite surreal. I say it all the time, because it is true: my books aren’t perfect, but they are entertaining.

Also, I do apologize for not visiting your blogs this past week. Editing has been a priority for quite a while now. I promise to be by soon to catch up with all of you. I know I missed some great posts as I watched them scroll by in my reader.

It will likely be a while before I write the next Susan Hunter book, so I want to do a little babbling about the books in general.

I like the way they have progressed. Susan manages a weight loss center by day and works and plays at a racquetball club in the evenings and on weekends. I tried to mix up the locations, characters, and stories between the books.

Sunshine Hunter – The story starts in a racquetball club in Carbide City, Ohio. The book basically starts out as chick-lit. Susan and her best friend, Darby, go to Florida, and this is where the mystery starts. There is a bit of romance, humor, and some action. The ending is back home in Carbide City at the racquetball club.

 

Big Apple Hunter – The pace is slower in this book. It starts as chick-lit with the setting in the weight loss center this time. There are some flashbacks in this story. I didn’t know you shouldn’t do that, but I’m a rookie author, and I’m sticking with it. Susan accompanies Darby to New York City for a weekend, and this is where the mystery starts. It is then brought back home to Carbide City and the weight loss center for the climax. Once again, there is a bit of humor, some romance, and action.

 

Sin City Hunter – This book moves faster, and I finally had clarity on the use of “which” vs “that” in writing. 🙂 Susan is in Las Vegas for a week of work at the corporate offices of the weight loss company. She flies out a few days early for some fun and relaxation. Her parents join her, and there is a new character introduced. Once again, we have chick-lit, a (murder) mystery, some romance, action, and I think the humor worked well in this book.

 

Big Easy Hunter – The book starts on a racquetball court in Carbide City, and two mysteries are quickly introduced. A character only mentioned before has a main role in this book. Susan, Darby, and the new character go to New Orleans for a wedding, where there is yet another mystery. The book ends back in Carbide City with a big climax. Chick-lit, romance, humor, action – and dogs! I love this book.

 

Windy City Hunter – This is the first book that has no racquetball playing in it, and there aren’t any scenes at the weight loss center. It takes place entirely in Chicago. The tone of this book is different. It’s more “pure mystery” than the others. There is a flicker of romance (hard to have romance when Mick is in England), and some humor. A new character joins the fray near the end.

I don’t know what’s next for Susan. I have an idea for one more book, but even though I feel quite certain number six will be the end, I’m learning to never say never. I also know that I may not have the final say in the matter. I’ve been to Los Angeles, and Susan just might want to go there, too.

Comment! I’m giving away five copies of Windy City Hunter and will draw the winners from the comments section! 🙂

I’ll leave you with this. I didn’t pony up the money to be able to post this little video wherever I want, but clicking the picture will take you to YouTube where you can see a little promo I put together for Windy City Hunter.

A Male Perspective

More than ever, I’m convinced I have a genre problem. My books aren’t sophisticated with enough romance to satisfy chick-lit lovers, and the mystery element isn’t a murder to be solved from chapter one throughout, so hardcore mystery lovers may also not be satisfied, but those are the two genres available for my type of book.

Truly, I have to start a campaign for a fluffy, pink-with-a-hint-of-silliness genre. I market under Breezy Books. I promote my books as fun, easy, breezy reading with nothing to make you blush. I think there are still women who appreciate a book that is pretty squeaky clean. Tell your mothers and grandmothers about my books. They are suitable for young adults, but there is no fantasy or vampires, and I haven’t tested the YA market.

But … it was especially fun when fellow WordPress blogger, Mike Akin of sumthissumthat, decided to read my first book. Mike is working on his first novel, and I’ve recently had the pleasure of reading some of the beginning of his work, and it’s shaping up into a great story.

He is my first male reader (that I’m aware of) other than my husband. I have been tickled pink about this, and I want to share some of his email messages with you. The messages are sent to me from his phone, so there is no expectation of perfect punctuation or grammar.  We just go with it and laugh.

These are all separate emails – some days with more than one. Many of the smiley faces have been removed. We smile at each other a lot. His words are in bold, and we start with this note:

9/26 – I just saw your books on my iBooks app!! That is so freaking cool!! I’m corresponding with a famous person. I’ll be buying the first one later today!! This is so exciting lol

After I assured him my books were no great works of art, but they were fun, he replied:
I’m just tickled to death  lol  have a great day my friend … I love that he gets “tickled,” too.

I’ll kick your butt in racquetball   … Oops, not a comment about the book. We were one-upping each other in sports.

10/01 – Bought your first book 🙂 how can I get it autographed? Lol

I’m reading it and like it!!

10/02 – I love the description of play on the racquetball court in the scene where she first met mick

I replied to him:  Squee!!  Thank you.

He immediately wrote back: What was that sound? 

I replied: That was me being excited and happy.  Kind of like a pig squeal.

In reference to one of the scenes in the book: Two aces to finish a match! I did that once or twice 🙂

Love it! That meeting in the pub, the harmless flirting lol I hope I’m reading the first one, sunshine hunter is the first right? Or does it matter? I’m sure it does. Again, I guess I’m hooked 🙂

10/3 –(paraphrase from a line in the book) “He held my arms it’s a good thing cause I might have fallen down” … That’s good lol

wow I’m breezing right thru it. I think Susan needs to hook up with Darby

A side note about Susan and Darby after I showed him my two opening paragraphs for my fifth book I just started writing:
Wow Bonnie and Clyde lol GREAT

wow Darby is still around in next book I’m so looking forward to reading more

10/4 –(paraphrase) “Susan you know I love you, and would love to date you, but (removed spoiler text).”  Great great

After I told him that the guy across the hall from Susan’s apartment opened his door, and the character was created just like that with no planning:
That’s cool about Darby. So he just appeared as a character and you went with it? I think I did that with Nancy’s sister Grace. Lol She will be in the story line thru out, but I don’t know how much 🙂

10/5 – Food channel is referenced a lot in your book
I promptly responded: I like to cook. And eat.

Loved reading about the matches Susan had at that club in Florida. It brings back memories

Lol that is funny! Loudermilk for a last name 🙂

10/09 – I loved the way (chapter) 9 ended! Shocker

10/11 – I really like how your story took that twist with Susan and the (spoiler text removed) character 🙂 kudos to you

He’s so deep into the book, there would be too many spoilers now, so that’s all I’m sharing, but this has been a real hoot for me that a grown manly man is reading my book and enjoying it. It’s a real morale booster, and the rest of you men out there should take note and give my book a try. Sunshine Hunter – only 99 cents at fine ebook sellers online.

And below the fold is this bit of news I promised I’d share. My 50-book sale to ONE person at Smashwords has finally been reversed. The announcement was posted on their site that there were fraudulent credit card sales and all have been reversed this month. The secret admirer angle was a little too good to be true. I have no questions to draw you in today, so we lapse into an awkward pause.

Ooh – or you can tell me what question(s) I should have asked. Or you can go over to Mike’s blog and have a look around. He has some of his wife’s art there, and he even has some manly recipes.

Formatting for Smashwords

Formatting your book before sending it up to be chewed and spit out by the meatgrinder at Smashwords takes time, but it doesn’t have to be difficult.

I’m new at writing, editing, and formatting, and I freely admit to making sensational mistakes as I try to figure everything out, but as my last three books went up without a hitch, I’m simply going to try to show/tell you what I do that makes surviving the meatgrinder and passing the AutoVetter easy.

The information is only 1300 words, but with the illustrations, it’s quite long, so I didn’t want to put the entire thing in a blog post. It’s in a .pdf file.

If you are formatting a simple book with front matter, a linked table of contents, text with nothing more than bold, italics, underline, etc., and back matter – a simple, straightforward book – then you can use this guide for formatting:

Easy Formatting for Smashwords

You might wonder why I put the time into this. Well, it will make it easier for me in the future. I do get tired of scrolling through the Style Guide on my Nook to find the sections that pertain to formatting my book(s).

Also, my new friend, a fellow Ohioan, Marcus Matherne at Voices in His Head blog, wrote a funny book and paid someone to format it for him. He asked if I had any tips, and I told him I had been thinking about a blog post pertaining to formatting.

So there you have it. Boring blog post, but maybe it will help someone.

Disclaimer: If you follow my formatting instructions and you didn’t back up a copy of your book first, you have no one to blame but yourself.

I’ll Be Rich in No Time

That snarky interviewer I had around here the other day jinxed me. I didn’t even have my newest book up at Smashwords for twenty-four hours, and I found an error. But it’s not glaring, it would likely pass you by (it would!), and I fixed it before I published at Amazon. So, if you entered the betting pool for republishing, there are still no winners.

But something really cool happened after I published at Smashwords Sunday night. Within the hour. Did you catch that? WITHIN THE HOUR, I sold 50 books. Fifty. Fitty. Yep. Do the math. 50 books at $2.99 each before fees. At that hourly rate, I’ll be a millionaire within a year! (Click the graphic for a closer look.)

Are you ready to leave comments and congratulate me for writing such an awesome book, that I sold FIFTY copies within the first hour?

Yeah, don’t bother.

I’m a realist. There’s no way 50 copies of my book sold within the first hour – especially at Smashwords. So what happened? I have a few theories.

– It’s a glitch.

– It’s someone using a credit card fraudulently as they try to amass money through affiliate programs. This happened last month at Smashwords, and they eventually reversed the fraudulent sales. I’m expecting this to happen to me in the coming weeks.

But let’s pretend it wasn’t a glitch or fraud! Play along now. What could it be?

– Someone who works for a library saw the book go up as newly published, and they needed more chick-lit, because the patrons can never get enough chick-lit. They bought FIFTY copies for eBook distribution.

Louie B. and Piglet are today’s Ray of Sunshine to entice Secret Admirer to buy more books.

Or my favorite theory …

– I have a secret admirer who reads my blog and is so happy with the ray of sunshine I bring to his/her life every day, that he/she bought FIFTY copies just to throw some money my way.

That’s the one I’m going with until Smashwords reverses the sale(s).

What? Do you have a better theory?

Whacky Formatting and A Sales Report

When I published my books, I checked crucial formats that came out of Smashwords’ meatgrinder. Everything looked good in html, pdf, and epub. It wasn’t until I later downloaded Kindle for PC that I saw the first book (Sunshine Hunter) in the the mobi format for Kindle was pretty whack. There were quite a few pages in italics and several sections in bold. Even as I go back and look at my formatting, I can’t find these gremlins. The only solution would be to go nuclear by removing all formatting with Notepad and redo the formatting.

Then I would have to REPUBLISH! Oh.my.gosh! I am not sending that book up again. Especially since it’s fine everywhere but the mobi file, and most people would buy that format directly from Amazon anyway.

I didn’t use Smashwords for distribution on Amazon, so the books I uploaded there don’t have any of those irritations. At least one has some crazy big chapter headings, and a few other minor issues, but nothing to warrant republishing.

When I’m finished with my fourth book, I’m going to strip out all the formatting and get rid of any gremlins. I probably won’t need to do it as I think I’m getting better at using Word, but I do NOT want to go running and screaming down that republishing road again. I’d rather take the extra time and make sure everything is right.

On a separate note, we are day three into our ten-day vacation at home … and we are already exhausted. 🙂 We love having our house guest and other visitors, but aren’t used to activity all day long. I’ve tried to sneak a little time away at the computer, but haven’t been very successful. One of our visitors works at a Starbucks in Texas, and I slipped some business cards to her with my first book and my website advertised on them. She said she will make sure to tell her co-workers and friends about the books. Every little bit helps.

It will be a while before I find out if any books have sold at Barnes & Noble. I don’t have any way to know until they report to Smashwords. To my knowledge, since the first book was published on Smashwords and Amazon on May 12, my sales through June have been 38 books. This pleases me because I read where one successful self-publisher had only made about seven dollars in their first six months of self-publishing, and they had more books than I do. Things took off later for them.

I don’t know if my books will ever “take off,” but I like when I see that a purchase is made on the first book, and then a day or two later, purchases show up simultaneously on the second and third. I like to think someone liked the first book and has come back to grab the next two. Hopefully, they will grab the fourth as well.

Blogging Freaks Me Out

In a few days, I’ll have been blogging for a month. I think I like it. There are some things that freak me out though.

I liked it when there were less than twenty visitors to my blog each day. Just a few people peeking in to see what I was doing while I try to write and publish a few books. I sort of panicked when 52 people showed up one day this week. Yikes! Where did they come from? And why?

My mind went on a freak out thinking that the new visitors were other authors shaking their heads. Who in their right mind would write three books in two months and then think they were good enough to publish? … Well, I guess I did.

People spend years honing their craft and agonizing over their words wanting to put out the very best work possible. I understand that, but when I found the Smashwords site, something went off inside me, and it just came out – three books in two months. I had to do it, and I had to publish them. When I look at my books on my Nook, it delights me to no end. And the fact that the few people I know who have read the books liked them; well, it’s just that much nicer.

I’ve been visiting other blogs and enjoying the time spent blog-hopping. I love fashion, photography, music, books, poetry, and so much other stuff. I find myself following people as they lose weight. I’m sad for people who share their struggles and wish I could hug them. I love the humorous blogs. This is a wonderful new world. I’ve purchased two books from indie writers. I want to put my money where my mouth is and help others who are finding their way as well. I won’t really stop following authors; there’s a lot to learn from them.

I was nominated for an award by lightningpen. I was kind of embarrassed, and didn’t really know what to think about it. I didn’t mean to ignore you, kind blogger, but I was so new to blogging and didn’t have a clue who else to nominate. I don’t understand everything about the blogging community yet, and I may revisit that nomination one day (unless it has an expiration date).

So, even though I’m not really comfortable yet with blogging, and there are days when it freaks me out, I’m pretty sure I like it and will keep plodding on for a while.

Sweating the Small Stuff

Self-publishing takes time. Time that could be spent writing is taken up with other details and even nagging worries.

For a month, I’ve been waiting patiently for my books to show up at Barnes & Noble. The books didn’t come up in a search by title, author, or ISBN. After a quick inquiry, I was told the books should be indexed just a few days after Smashwords ships, so I knew something was wrong.

Yesterday, a helpful customer service rep at Smashwords sent an email to me with the B&N links to all three books. I was a little flabbergasted, and I still don’t have a clue how she found them. Even after she sent the links, I still couldn’t bring up the books or my name through the B&N search feature. When I checked the links she provided, I saw that two of the books didn’t even show descriptions. I had a feeling I’d probably done something wrong, and it threw a damper on my morning.

Of course, I had to start searching to find out why the search didn’t work and what I could do about it. I read message boards and finally found where others from as far back as 2010 had the same problems – books not indexed in search with no description and/or cover image. I finally gave up and decided it would be more productive to update my website to reflect the new links.

Errands had to be run in the afternoon, and there were a few unexpected interruptions. By the time I sat down to write in the evening, I’d lost my writing mojo. I spent most of my time reading what was already written and doing some proofreading. Still productive, but not what I wanted to do.

Have you ever been expecting a package, and it doesn’t come, and it doesn’t come, and you finally write and say, “Where’s my package?” Then it usually shows up in the mail that day or the next, and you wasted your time and the sender’s. Before heading up to bed, I searched my name again. All three books showed up, all were searchable, and all had descriptions.

I simply have to ignore some of this stuff, or I’ll never get any writing done.

Recalculating … Republish!

After I found the Smashwords site, I downloaded Mark Coker’s Style Guide. The book “offers simple step-by-step instructions to create, format and publish an ebook.” I took the time to read it front to back.

The night I decided to do the formatting, I sat with the guide opened in my Nook and went page by page until I came to sections that pertained to me. I took their advice and changed the style to first-line indents. I turned on the show/hide for paragraphs and formatting and made a fast pass through the book. I was surprised to see that I had several forced page returns rather than a simple return indicating the end of a paragraph.

It wasn’t noted in the style guide, but after perusing sites regarding formatting, I happened upon a discussion of one space or two after a sentence. The resounding opinion, especially from editors, was one space. My default has always been two, and it’s going to take a long time to break that habit, so I had to do a find/replace on two spaces to one space.

There was one section where it very clearly stated DO NOT USE both first line indents and the block style. It was even repeated and noted as one of the most common errors made. I was good there because I had already set up the first-line indents.

The step-by-step guide to building the linked Table of Contents was great. Even though a bit time-consuming, it was easy and turned out right the first time. After that, it was simple to add the front matter, information about upcoming books at the end, and embed a cover picture at the beginning.

It was time. I was going to publish my first eBook. I filled out all the necessary information, held my breath, and pushed the button. I could see it going through the Smashwords meatgrinder. Everything was great and all conversions made, but the AutoVetter had a problem. My heart sank.

The notice said I used both first-line indents and the block style. If Microsoft Word wasn’t so foreign to me, maybe it would have been easier, but I finally found that I hadn’t changed the after (paragraph) spacing to 0. I made the changes and hit REPUBLISH. Everything was fine now.

Until my husband looked at the sample a few days later and found an error just a few pages in! The word “looked” should have been “look.” A spell-checker wouldn’t have found it, and proofreaders glossed over it as well. REPUBLISH! A week later I found an error in the description for the book. A word in the title was changed, and I forgot to change it in the description. REPUBLISH!

Sunshine Hunter was republished four times before I left the poor thing alone. It finally made its way into the Smashwords premium catalog and is slowly being distributed to their outlets.

Formatting was easier than I thought it would be. I’m grateful Mark Coker put a book out there to assist authors, and I’m especially grateful for the link that reads: Upload New Version.

Bushes and Smashwords

About that children’s book I shopped around …

Stuck in the Bushes is a repetitive picture book that elicits giggles from children as the Stuck family cries from the bushes for an entire night. I decided to look around for a place to self-publish it as an ebook and stumbled upon Smashwords.

I think I spent a couple of days poring over that site. I downloaded books for my Nook, but I was mostly fascinated by the variety of self-published items. They ranged from stories of only a few hundred words to epic novels.

As I looked deeper into formatting a children’s book, I realized there would be quite a few hurdles, especially with the artwork. I put the story back in the drawer, but I visited Smashwords every day. I read samples and appreciated that people were so brave to just put their work out there.

I read once that if you wanted to be a writer, you should just write. Write something every day even if it’s only a paragraph. It was 11:00 one evening, and a thought popped into my head. I opened a blank page in Word, and one paragraph came out:

My perfectly restored ‘67 Chevy Chevelle careened around the corner at Walsh and Park, the tires squealing in an effort to get my attention. I was angry, and my mind was reeling. I was thinking of all the ways I wanted to kill him. People on the sidewalk were staring at me as I flew by, and I knew I had to get a grip on more than just the steering wheel. Carbide City was known for speed traps, and I didn’t need another ticket. Why are restored muscle cars magnets for cops and tickets anyway?

I was on my way.