Happy Pub Day!!!

Happy pub day!!! So it's official. Taking on the Writing World: The Ups and Downs of the Writing Life is officially out today.

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

Smashwords

To celebrate, until January 31, 2014 I am offering 10% at Smashwords.  If you purchase the book from Smashwords, you can get 10% off  by entering code: JR27F.   How can you support the cause? Here's how?

1. Like me on Facebook 
2. Follow me on Twitter @lbyrdwrites
3. Follow me on Google+
4. Follow me on Goodreads.
5. Add it to your Goodreads to read list.  

Reviews and comments are always welcomed.  Happy reading!!!

Cover Reveal: Taking on the Writing World

Thanks to the cover creator on Amazon KDP, I was able to create a professional cover that I am absolutely happy with!  Drum roll please...

Note: I made a change in the subtitle.  The book with be called: Taking on the Writing World: The Ups and Downs of the Writing Life.

I can't wait to finish the book and put out there for readers to read.  Stay tuned for an excerpt.  

WIP: Taking on the Writing World

Hi, I guess that it is not too early to announce that I have been working on a new book project.  I have been reading a lot of books about writing and reading about experiences from different writers. Reading those experiences inspired me to tell my story.

I wanted to write about my experiences with writing contests, classes, rejections from publications, and other adventures and misadventures and share some words of wisdom I picked up through the years.  I still consider myself  a newbie although I have writing online for almost five years.  I still have a long way to go, but I am not as green as I use to be.

I am not so quick to enter just any contest promising money and publication.  I am not in a big hurry to hit to publish button.  Case and point, I wish that I would've taken my time with the short stories on Smashwords.  There have been times when I have caught mistakes and had to upload a new version.  I hoped to make money off my stories, but it took me nine months to earn $11.03.  The lesson here is don't publish to make a quick buck.  These things don't happen overnight.

I am half way through the book and I have written almost seven thousand words.  That is a world record for me.  It is more than the word count of the failed unfinished novel that I attempted.  What's different this time around?

I have been writing out each chapter by hand in a notebook and when I am ready, I type it on the computer.  This strategy cuts down on getting distracted by the Internet.  I feel more productive when using this method.

I plan to publish through Amazon's KDP to reach a wide audience.  I can't wait to publish, but I don't want to rush it.  I am so glad that KDP has a book cover creator so I will have a professional looking cover.

The working title for my first full length non fiction book is Taking on the Writing World: The Ups and Downs of Getting Published.  I hope to have it on Amazon by January 2015 at the latest.

Stay tuned for updates!

Book Cover Make Over!

I have exciting news!

I thought that it was time to get more professional looking book covers for the eBooks I currently have on Smashwords.  I have learned a valuable lesson: don't make your own book cover if you don't know what you are doing or if you do not have the right tools.

I am still learning the ins and outs of the self publishing business.  I think that having a lack of professional covers for my books is the reason why the aren't selling so well.  In order to reach a wider audience, I plan to publish them on Amazon as well.  Not everyone knows about Smashwords.

There is a new project in the works.  Stay Tuned!

I'm A Published Independent Author

Good morning everyone! I have a special announcement.  On Wednesday Spetember 4, 2013, I self published a short story collection called: The Stories We Tell When Drinking Coffee: A Collection of Short Stories and Flash Fiction.  It is available on Smashwords.

I am proud of myself for seeing a project through and not thinking about if people will like it, read it, if it is something people want to see, hear, or read.  Those thoughts crept in but I pushed them back.  I have been doing that way too long; listening to self doubt and nay sayers.  It was back in high school when I had a teacher who said that I didn't have what takes to be a writer.  I don't expect to receive overnight success, fame, fortune, NYT Bestseller's list.  I just want to get my stories out there and for people to enjoy.

How did I get into self publishing? I signed up for Smashwords two years ago, but never did much with my account.  I would read author bios, download some books here and there, and recently started reading author interviews.  I had some of my stories saved and I decided to go back and clean them up  and add to them.  Well, I made the decision to publish them.  I proofread my work Tuesday night, and tossed and turned all night.  I woke up at 4:00 am to upload my ebook.  I encountered problems with the upload of my Word file.  After a few tries, I went back to bed.  Several hours later, I tried again and the upload didn't go through.  I was frustrated after using two different internet browsers. Finally by the afternoon, the file went through.  I had to change my Word 2010 file to Word 97-2003 doc. file.  I previously had it in rtf, dot, and Open Office.  Why didn't I figure that out hours ago?

The next day, I had to fix outo vetter errors, my book cover size, and add an ISBN.  I spread the word about the ebook on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and LinkedIn.   I priced the book at $1.99 but I haven't sold a single book. This morning I decided to lower the price to $0.99.  I know that some would say I'm selling myself cheap, but we will see what happens.

This experience was nerve wrecking and still is.  It doesn't quite feel real.  I have been writing truck loads of web content for the last three years, and things have been a bit sour in that department since the summer. Looks like the writing is on the wall, I need to ease away from content farming and focus on my own projects.  I don't know where self publishing is going to take me, but I have to stay possitive.  It's scary to think what if no one never buys your books? Then what?  I'm sure that all authors go through these same scary feelings.

I realize that not everyone will think my stories are good. I will admit, I have read a lot of stories that I wasn't impressed with.  Some readers like romance, some like thrillers and suspense, and some perfer mysteries.  We all have different tastes and reading preferences because that is what makes us unique.

I also did an interview with Smashwords.  You can check it out here.

Have a good weekend everyone

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