Week 1 of Being Published, Recap

This is my first week of being published as a fiction writer (I'm previously published in non-fiction). My book published haphazardly on 9/14/2011, and as of this morning sold 9 copies! My first day I sold 2 copies on Smashwords, and 2 copies on Amazon. On the second day, I sold 1 more on Smashwords, and 1 more on Amazon. And this morning, I woke up to see that I finally sold a copy on Barnes and Noble and 2 more copies on Amazon. I also received my first 5 star review on Amazon yesterday morning! (I will confess, *I* don't think my book 5 stars, more like 4.5, but I'm a very harsh critic on myself).

I also sent out the call for opportunities to guest blog. This was difficult. Deep down, we all wish others would just think us so fabulous, that we get requests and invites without having to ask. But like everything in this world, you have to ask. No one can read your mind. And if they can, get a helmet like Magneto.

So I asked. I figured it wouldn't offend me in the least for someone to ask me for help; I love to give help! So why should my writer and book reviewer friends be offended that I ask them for help? So far the wonderful J.A. Bennett, J.L. Campbell, and Nathan Lowell have answered my call! I will be featured on J.A. Bennett's A Girl, A Book, A Journey next Thursday and Nathan Lowell's Nathan Lowell Presents sometime next week. I will be on J.L. Campbell's The Character Depot in October. (I also just started reading J. L. Campbell's book Dissolution and it is very interesting to see marital discord in a Jamaican culture setting. I even have learned new words!).

I am also a member of Darla Shine's Happy Housewives Club and put out a call for the kick-butt moms there to read a gratis copy and review it. So far, one member there has taken up the request and she's even a part of a reading group on Facebook! Again, you just have to ask.

Finally, I had a brilliant idea to do a Blog Trick or Treat for Books. I am going to solidify that program and put together a sign up with Linkytools. The basic premise is we put together a "neighborhood" of author blogs willing to give a coupon for a free or discounted ebook for comment leavers who "trick or treat." If I can put together a decent list by the end of September of participating authors and get it out to book review sites, it just might go viral. Then we can promote it the month of October, and run it the last weekend of October, with coupons expiring Nov. 2.

Last night my super helpful 11-year-old watched his little sister so I could get major work done on my next novel's outline. It's finally fleshing out and I'm ready to start story boarding it.

All in all, a great week! I am still looking for other author's books to the recommended reading on my reader site, guest blog opportunities, and anyone who wants to be a part of the Ebook Trick of Treat game.

A robotics engineer asks his business partner to marry him, but a previous one-night stand is having his baby. CANCELLED is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords.  WIP: PAST DUE A nurse, crippled by debt, takes a part-time job in medical investigation only to find the man she's dating is a fraud!  (status: outlining)

Ideas For October: Need Participants

We've all heard about the Amazon Sunshine sales, right? Amazon worked with the Big 6 and collectively, prices went down, and their sales went up.

I have two ideas on how we indies can make October OUR sunshine sale. The first is very straightforward, not nearly as fun... Trick or Treat Books. We all work together to make a list of the writer blogs in the neighborhood that are participating, and on Oct. 31 people can visit the blog to get a coupon for a free book, maybe leave a comment that they were there for fun. We'll all be handing out candy and checking our email/blogs at the same time! We can even make it fun with links so say my reader blog once they leave a comment, they click the link at the bottom and go to the next blog. Make it a circle. We can promote a list of authors the week before on who's participating, but that way readers just click a link "On to the next house..." and have no idea where it will land them and so on. (okay they can right click and read the source, but it's the spirit of fun). Another idea would just be a 50% coupon if authors don't want to do free.

That's probably the best idea for a first go around.

Another idea but would need to be a month long promotion, maybe best for November (giving thanks) has readers start with any free book they want from the participating authors. Once they rate the book or leave a review somewhere, even a bleh one, they contact the author's blog and get a special coupon for a free ebook of the next author. This would probably work best on a smaller scale. It'd be giving thanks back and forth, free books from the authors thanking the reader for rating the book and thanks from the reader for getting the book for free.

I know I am but one small little writer with a blog, but I have mighty friends who are book reviewers and other authors that kick butt. If we all work together, we can get this done, and make October or November, or both, OUR month to make the sales go through the roof!

A robotics engineer asks his business partner to marry him, but a previous one-night stand is having his baby. CANCELLED is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords. 

Starting My Author Career, I Need Help

My debut novel has been out for two days. I have 3 sales on Smashwords, and 3 sales on Amazon. This release is a bit haphazard. I planned a week for formatting, and it took me an hour with Jutoh. I built that all important platform before I published; I have 50 subscribers of this blog and over 500 Twitter followers.

I have a few marketing efforts in the works, but I didn't organize a blog tour because well, I wasn't 110% sure I'd ever publish. I had the publishing date of 9/22/2011, and I beat it by 8 days, but with the move, the start of school, potty training my toddler, and living a month and half without my husband, there were doubts. The last thing I wanted to do was organize this big blog tour and have no book to deliver. Now that the book is out, it's a relief. I know it will get some good reviews, and some disappointing ones, but that's okay. I need the experience and it's my first book.

I'm working a little on my next novel, and for this project I am using Writer's Cafe. I like how it has all of the tools I need. I even wrote down my dream last night in the Journal because it was interesting.

So far my marketing efforts are:
* My book is in the hands of Theresa at the League of Extraordinary Women. I'm hoping she likes it enough to give it a review on thelxl.com.
* I've given out a handful of free copies, and I hope I can get my first review soon.
* I made my first personal post on my reader site, The Great Banana Bread Disaster, in an effort to let readers get to know me.

If anyone has room for a guest blogger, I would love to tell the story of publishing my book in the middle of a move, or talk about how I'm taking advantage of the technology available to serve my readers with my reader site. I would also be happy to return the favor once the reader site is getting decent traffic.

I know I can't do this alone, and hope I don't have to. :) A huge thank you to every one of my writer friends who encouraged me and helped me along the way. I hope some are willing to help me a little more.

Always Smiling,
Elizabeth Ann West

A robotics engineer asks his business partner to marry him, but a previous one-night stand is having his baby. CANCELLED is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords. 

#ROW80 I SUCCEEDED! BOOK IS OUT!

Yesterday, my A Round of Words in 80 Days came to a shocking conclusion when I published my book, CANCELLED. 8 days early! Then, I sold 5 copies. And I feel amazing! 

Without further adieu: CANCELLED is now available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords! The printed version will be coming out soon. I am looking for any opportunities to share the novel with reviewers. I now have time to read and would be happy to do a book swap with other authors and review on the major sites.

This has been great and I fully intend to use A Round of Words in 80 Days to work on my next novel, PAST DUE.

"CANCELLED" is OUT. A robotics engineer asks his business partner to marry him, but a previous one-night stand is having his baby.

All Ebook Formatting Made Super Simple

I finished my final round of edits and began working on formatting. GRR! UGH! SERIOUSLY??????? and a number of expletives left my mouth early on...until I found Jutoh. I originally was looking for something free, but this program is worth 40 pounds of gold, not just $40. I only paid $24 in a combination deal to purchase Writer's Cafe as well, but that's a separate blog post.

How easy is Jutoh? This easy.

Download OpenOffice.org if you don't already have it. Write your story. Pick one style for your chapter headings. Pick another for your ebook text (set your paragraph indent with the style, DO NOT USE TABS). Save as .odt [you can have more styles, I have 4 in my book total and it preserved them all!!!]

Open Jutoh. It works on Windows, Mac, and Linux (YAY!). Start a new project. Fill in your metadata (be prepared for this, this helps Amazon and the other sites catalog and show your book for other readers). Select the .odt file you made with everything in it. Select the file you want to be your cover. Tell it to autogenerate your Table of Contents. Click compile. Wait a minute or two. Run the check, then go to FILE:Export and pick the format you want. 

TA DA!!!! You now have access to your book is every format you need. Including .epub, .mobi, the file for Smashwords, and other formats I don't even know where they sell.

Want to get fancy? You can change up which files are included in making the ebook for different versions called configurations. So if one store doesn't allow links in the book, but another does, have two different files of the area with the links and presto changeo.

Like I said....worth 40 pounds of gold. Which at current market value would be almost $1.2 million. 

Give Jutoh a try, a trial copy is free. I don't know exactly how long the trial lasts, as I played with the software for about 30 minutes before deciding it was a must-have for a self-published author.

UPDATE: All formats uploaded to the Amazon, BN, and Smashwords with 0 problems. The Smashwords edition I just saved the file I made perfect for Jutoh that was .odt as a .doc. I fixed the Copyright page and added the ### to the end. So far, so good. A few typo issues, but that was my fault of choosing the wrong file. In the future, upload day will not involve me being the sole caregiver of my toddler. 

And I've already sold 3 copies! 

Get 50% off any version on Smashwords! Coupon code: JZ49W. http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/88799

"CANCELLED" arriving SEPTEMBER 22, 2011. A robotics engineer asks his business partner to marry him, but a previous one-night stand is having his baby.

There's a Platypus Controlling Me...To Finish My To Do List

I looked for a picture of a finish line, light at the end of the tunnel, but at the end, I just needed to go with my heart. Without further adieu, there's a platypus controlling me....


Elizabeth, why are you still trying to publish your book in the middle of a move?
There's a platypus controlling me.


Elizabeth, why are you going to push through this last round of edits, look one last time for typos and then let the story go out into the world?
There's a platypus controlling me. He's underneath the table.


There are 10 days until my publication date. Yes, it IS self-imposed, but that doesn't make it any less of a deadline. In fact, the book WILL come out before that (Ssshhhhh! We're just going to celebrate the release on 9/22/11) so that when release day comes, all of the sites are propagated with the book.

• I have 8 more chapters of edits to make. The edits are done, just need to be keyed in. By THURSDAY!
• I will send my manuscript to the printer one last time. Then read it twice for typos. 
• Monday I will finalize the ebook formatting.
• Tuesday and Wednesday I will upload. 
• THURSDAY-SUNDAY = PARTY with my best friend Kari Watford and unpack my household goods.

Here, there is no platypus controlling me! I'm being this cool all by myself!




"CANCELLED" arriving SEPTEMBER 2011. A robotics engineer asks his business partner to marry him, but a previous one-night stand is having his baby.

Where Did She Go??? TO Connecticut FROM South Carolina

PHEW!!!!! Today is September 9, 2011. My household was packed up on September 1 and I traveled 1200 miles with an 11-year-old and a 2-year-old, 600 miles of that with my mother in tow. She was in the car with us, and drove a little through New Jersey. I've learned I don't ride in my car very well with someone else driving. At all.

A few highlights? Getting on the NJ Turnpike my mother had to slow down to 25 mph to get off the exit. My 2-year-old daughter in the back seat yells "Go! Go! Go!" Sheesh, impatient much?

Yes, yes I am. This is a Navy move, meaning a company contracts with the Navy to move our goods. They are allowed a window of delivery dates to account for bad weather, etc. That's reasonable. My house was on the truck 9/2/2011, and the truck driver said he would see me sometime next week. No problems, kiddos and Grandma and I mosy on up, stay with friends in upstate NY for a day and make it to CT on Labor Day. The truck driver was supposed to call me that Monday to tell me the delivery date. He didn't. I called him. He said his dispatcher left early on Friday, so he was still in Charleston, SC and didn't know when he'd be able to get up to me! Two days later and as many more conversations, he tells me his dispatcher wants him to wait in SC in hopes that another pickup will materialize and won't get to me until SEPTEMBER 13!!! I said "Wait a minute, we were told no more than 8 days for delivery." He says that doesn't include holidays and weekends.

I am spitting quarters. I'm sure my husband, when he was serving our country on a submarine would have LOVED to say "Gotta go home, it's a holiday/weekend." Yeah. I am not an unreasonable person, I agree a company needs to do things efficiently. However, when they quoted the Navy for my move, they didn't PLAN on doubling up by picking someone else up. So now, my family, with young children, is stuck living on the bare necessities for over a week for corporate greed. And if I thought a penny of that money would be used to keep jobs, I'd be a little more understanding. But it probably won't. And I will never, ever use SUDDATH VAN LINES again.

So that said... on with the good news. I have finished the pen edits of CANCELLED and rechapterization. There are now 18 chapters, and 7 of them have the edits in the computer! Despite my move drama (and it was EXPENSIVE drama) I will make my release date of 9/22!

Can't hold a military wife down! You can try, but it won't be for very long!

"CANCELLED" arriving SEPTEMBER 22, 2011. A robotics engineer asks his business partner to marry him, but a previous one-night stand is having his baby.

Tour of My Reader Site

My READER SITE is an answer to the problem I see of writers mixing their audiences with writer blogs. The only cost we've spent on the site is hosting space on Go Daddy. I am using Wordpress. My logo I created with Gimp. You just go to File, Create, Logo, and this is a Glossy with purples and pastel gradients. 


Features
I picked a very simple design because as I add pictures, links, and posts, the simple design will help minimize the clutter. I am using ZeeCorporate for my theme.


CHAT: I installed the plugin for Chatroll and signed up for an account at chatroll.com. It's free for up to 10 people chatting at a time. I want to offer a weekly chat with readers as a modern day update of the Meet the Author events. You can pick the color and size of the chat window, as well as if people can share links. What's nice is people can log in with Facebook, Twitter, or their own Chatroll log in.


Extras: I installed the plug in Pages Post to allow me to create a page that shows posts of a certain category or tag. I created the category Extras: Behind the Scenes CANCELLED. Each book will have their own page under the parent of Extras. You have to create the page first, then go into the Pages Post setting to say designate the page as a display of posts with a certain category. Pre plan this out to keep things organized. To password protect the posts, I just changed the Visibility (it's a setting in the top right corner) to Password Protect, then picked a password and saved.


I didn't want my password protected posts to show up on the front page. They're supposed to be kinda secret for people who have read my books. So I needed another plug in. Front Page Category lets you check mark which categories you want to show on the front page of your site, the main area. I just unchecked Extras and the child categories underneath it, and voila! No posts of extras on the front page.


I will add more to this as I develop the site. But this is the under the hood walkthrough for any other writer who wants to create a reader centric site.


"CANCELLED" arriving SEPTEMBER 2011. A robotics engineer asks his business partner to marry him, but a previous one-night stand is having his baby.

Free Advertising On My Reader Site

I just overhauled my reader site because we changed to Go Daddy for hosting. I have 4 spots for 125x125 ads on http://eawestwriting.com. I would love to feature other indie authors/resources for readers. This site is NOT for writers, so if you are trying to sell a book about writing, this isn't the right venue. I know one spot will be taken up with a spot for the paupersbookclub.com. But I am open to other suggestions. I will be leaving up the first set at least through the middle of October. 


For individual books, I would like to read a copy first (and no, it doesn't have to be free, if your summary grabs me, I'll buy it and read it). I am making this site personally for my readers and don't want to recommend books I myself did not enjoy. It's nothing personal. I am not charging for these ads, and my site will be a link at the front and back of each of my ebooks. There will also be weekly chat. The ads do show up on every page. Also coming is super secret behind the scenes information for my readers to access via password in the ebook.


If you're interested, please email me with the information on the contact page.


"CANCELLED" arriving SEPTEMBER 2011. A robotics engineer asks his business partner to marry him, but a previous one-night stand is having his baby.