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A promise.. to myself and you... (Read 9134 times)

Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	A promise.. to myself and you... Jun 22^nd, 2011 at 4:58pm	Print Post
	Come January -- maybe sooner if I run out of agents to query by then -- my first novel will be available to purchase. After reading an article about it from the BBC and starting my research, if Book One isn't at least on track to be published by a conventional publishing house by the end of the year, I'll be making use of Amazon's free ebook publishing and putting it out electronically. So you might want to put a kindle or a similar (compatible!) device on your Yule/Christmas list, cause come hell or high water, "Keyholder's Castle: Homecoming" will be available in January. Post # 19,100
	« Last Edit: Nov 29^th, 2011 at 5:45am by Penthesilea »

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Sitalique Senior Member Offline Watching from the shadows Posts: 408 Location: Florida Joined: Mar 5^th, 2010	Re: A promise.. to myself and you... Reply #1 - Jun 22^nd, 2011 at 6:18pm	Print Post
	And if you can't get a Kindle for whatever reason, there's an app for the PC: Kindle for the PC I've known a few that have gone the self publishing route with Amazon and they seem to like the experience.
	« Last Edit: Jun 22^nd, 2011 at 6:20pm by Sitalique »
	Always wandering, only sometimes lost
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Veridian Etoile God Member Offline Posts: 14993 Location: Writing La La Land Joined: Apr 11^th, 2011 Gender:	Re: A promise.. to myself and you... Reply #2 - Jun 22^nd, 2011 at 6:21pm	Print Post
	Sita, do you know how much the app costs? It may be cheaper than actually purchasing an e-reader in the long run...

	We creative types have to create in order to feel ALIVE... That's why I write. Without my writing, I would not be living, only existing. ~Me~ Music is essential to life. ~Me~ I'm sunny natured with a side of EVIL...
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Sitalique Senior Member Offline Watching from the shadows Posts: 408 Location: Florida Joined: Mar 5^th, 2010	Re: A promise.. to myself and you... Reply #3 - Jun 22^nd, 2011 at 6:26pm	Print Post
	That's the best part. It's FREE!

	Always wandering, only sometimes lost
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Veridian Etoile God Member Offline Posts: 14993 Location: Writing La La Land Joined: Apr 11^th, 2011 Gender:	Re: A promise.. to myself and you... Reply #4 - Jun 22^nd, 2011 at 6:30pm	Print Post
	Cool, thanks!! I'll have to see if I can download it sometime before Penth gets her book published...

	We creative types have to create in order to feel ALIVE... That's why I write. Without my writing, I would not be living, only existing. ~Me~ Music is essential to life. ~Me~ I'm sunny natured with a side of EVIL...
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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: A promise.. to myself and you... Reply #5 - Jun 22^nd, 2011 at 7:53pm	Print Post
	Penth has a lot of work to do before she gets to the publishing part! For one thing, it looks like I'm going to have to convert my AppleWorks word document into something that kindle would accept. I'm still going to send out queries but past experience hasn't made me too hopeful and if I want to be ready to roll when the deadline arrives, there is a lot to be done. Like... cover art... Do I go with an "action scene" or something with Our Hero's shirt in shreds....
	« Last Edit: Nov 29^th, 2011 at 5:46am by Penthesilea »

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Veridian Etoile God Member Offline Posts: 14993 Location: Writing La La Land Joined: Apr 11^th, 2011 Gender:	Re: A promise.. to myself and you... Reply #6 - Jun 22^nd, 2011 at 8:07pm	Print Post
	I vote for a pic of the hero with his shirt in shreds, maybe when he's just about to kiss the heroine????

	We creative types have to create in order to feel ALIVE... That's why I write. Without my writing, I would not be living, only existing. ~Me~ Music is essential to life. ~Me~ I'm sunny natured with a side of EVIL...
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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: A promise.. to myself and you... Reply #7 - Jun 22^nd, 2011 at 8:16pm	Print Post
	And I just bet I know who you have in mind for the male cover model too!
	« Last Edit: Nov 29^th, 2011 at 5:46am by Penthesilea »

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Veridian Etoile God Member Offline Posts: 14993 Location: Writing La La Land Joined: Apr 11^th, 2011 Gender:	Re: A promise.. to myself and you... Reply #8 - Jun 22^nd, 2011 at 8:36pm	Print Post
	Yep...

	We creative types have to create in order to feel ALIVE... That's why I write. Without my writing, I would not be living, only existing. ~Me~ Music is essential to life. ~Me~ I'm sunny natured with a side of EVIL...
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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: A promise.. to myself and you... Reply #9 - Jun 22^nd, 2011 at 9:51pm	Print Post
	That cover might be more appropriate for Book 2 since in Book 1 Our Hero is getting some from just about everyone EXCEPT the Heroine... The man was dense, what can I say?!
	« Last Edit: Nov 29^th, 2011 at 5:48am by Penthesilea »

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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: A promise.. to myself and you... Reply #10 - Jun 22^nd, 2011 at 10:10pm	Print Post
	I think that the "convert the manuscript to something kindle can work with" problem might be solved. I'll need to consult with Skywise but if if is, I can concentrate on the cover art problem....
	« Last Edit: Nov 29^th, 2011 at 5:48am by Penthesilea »

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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: A promise.. to myself and you... Reply #11 - Jun 23^rd, 2011 at 4:43pm	Print Post
	I've confirmed that I can convert my manuscript to Word without having to buy and install Microsoft software which would probably involve buying a PC just for that. This is a good thing! Now the only apparent problem is cover art.... First step, decide what I want...
	« Last Edit: Nov 29^th, 2011 at 5:49am by Penthesilea »

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Veridian Etoile God Member Offline Posts: 14993 Location: Writing La La Land Joined: Apr 11^th, 2011 Gender:	Re: A promise.. to myself and you... Reply #12 - Jun 23^rd, 2011 at 4:56pm	Print Post
	That is AWESOME Penth!! Did they say what version of Word they prefer to have it on? I've got Word XP Pro on my system and it's not the latest version by a long shot...

	We creative types have to create in order to feel ALIVE... That's why I write. Without my writing, I would not be living, only existing. ~Me~ Music is essential to life. ~Me~ I'm sunny natured with a side of EVIL...
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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: A promise.. to myself and you... Reply #13 - Jun 23^rd, 2011 at 6:06pm	Print Post
	This is what it says about Word. Quote: A .docx file is a file from Microsoft Word 2007 that is not compatible with previous versions of Word. At this time, documents in .docx format are not supported on KDP. If your content has been created in .docx format, please resave your document in .doc format and use the file to upload through KDP.


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Sitalique Senior Member Offline Watching from the shadows Posts: 408 Location: Florida Joined: Mar 5^th, 2010	Re: A promise.. to myself and you... Reply #14 - Jun 23^rd, 2011 at 6:10pm	Print Post
	You should look into Open Office. Not sure if they have a version for Mac, but can't hurt. The last MS Office we got was '97 lol

	Always wandering, only sometimes lost
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Veridian Etoile God Member Offline Posts: 14993 Location: Writing La La Land Joined: Apr 11^th, 2011 Gender:	Re: A promise.. to myself and you... Reply #15 - Jun 23^rd, 2011 at 6:13pm	Print Post
	Don't even get me started on how much I HATE Word 2007, it STINKS!! I have it on my computer, there was a free trial of it that came with my version of Vista... I installed an OLDER version of MS Office on this baby so I'd be able to work on my stories, etc using the better program!!! Office 2007:

	We creative types have to create in order to feel ALIVE... That's why I write. Without my writing, I would not be living, only existing. ~Me~ Music is essential to life. ~Me~ I'm sunny natured with a side of EVIL...
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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: A promise.. to myself and you... Reply #16 - Jun 23^rd, 2011 at 7:57pm	Print Post
	giggle!
	« Last Edit: Nov 29^th, 2011 at 5:49am by Penthesilea »

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Veridian Etoile God Member Offline Posts: 14993 Location: Writing La La Land Joined: Apr 11^th, 2011 Gender:	Re: A promise.. to myself and you... Reply #17 - Jun 23^rd, 2011 at 8:01pm	Print Post
	Word 6: Decent program. Word 97: Even better. Word XP: THE BEST!!!! (out of the MS word processors). MS Works: Not bad but Word is better...

	We creative types have to create in order to feel ALIVE... That's why I write. Without my writing, I would not be living, only existing. ~Me~ Music is essential to life. ~Me~ I'm sunny natured with a side of EVIL...
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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: A promise.. to myself and you... Reply #18 - Jun 23^rd, 2011 at 8:19pm	Print Post
	I am continuing to plow through the "Pages" manuscript fixing the most glaring formatting errors. I'm getting crosseyed.... �
	« Last Edit: Nov 29^th, 2011 at 5:50am by Penthesilea »

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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: A promise.. to myself and you... Reply #19 - Jun 23^rd, 2011 at 9:01pm	Print Post
	And I am done! Pardon me while I crash....
	« Last Edit: Nov 29^th, 2011 at 5:50am by Penthesilea »

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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: A promise.. to myself and you... Reply #20 - Jun 26^th, 2011 at 2:36am	Print Post
	Well, I've gone through Amazon's royalty structure including how they calculate how much they take for "distribution" (which is based on the size of the work) and how the royalties are calculated. �An author can pick which percentage (either 35% or 70%) that they want with certain restrictions applying to the 70% royalty. "Suggested retail price" seems to be decided by the author. Currently, a mass market paperback is going for $7.99 with "trade" paperbacks and hardcovers going for much more. I went through some of the listings in the kindle store and a lot of the books were going for $.99 up to $2.99 for unknown/lesser known authors. �I haven't decided what to charge for Homecoming although given its size (approximately 2.7 MB) I'm thinking that $1.99 is reasonable. Still thinking about that though. �
	« Last Edit: Nov 29^th, 2011 at 5:51am by Penthesilea »

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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: A promise.. to myself and you... Reply #21 - Jun 28^th, 2011 at 4:59pm	Print Post
	I was a bit worried about "content" since Amazon reserves the right to remove material that it deems too "explicit." So I went and looked in the kindle store. They carry Laurel K. Hamilton's "Merry Gentry" series which Black Rose refers to as "Fairy Porn" so I think I'm safe!
	« Last Edit: Nov 29^th, 2011 at 5:52am by Penthesilea »

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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: A promise.. to myself and you... Reply #22 - Jul 6^th, 2011 at 7:38pm	Print Post
	WHY do I find formatting errors in the middle of the night? And WHY do I figure out how to trick the software into eliminating those formatting errors even LATER in the night so I don't have time to correct the entire manuscript in one go? I found a formatting error late last night. For some Gods forsaken reason, the software was leaving 2 to 4 lines blank on some of the pages -- usually right in the middle of a paragraph. �Skywise told me "why" which didn't really penetrate my fatigue muddled brain but I DID figure out how to trick the software into NOT doing that. However, it meant checking EVERY SINGLE PAGE OF THE 372 PAGE MANUSCRIPT! I worked until 2:30 am last night and have been working on it since we got back from town. I have just finished fixing the format, checking to make sure that the "page breaks" at the beginning of each chapter were still there (some weren't!), fixing the page breaks, checking to be sure everything remained "fixed" after I put the missing page breaks back in and have NOW returned to where I was proofing last night when I found this pesky problem! Since eyes and brain are in agreement that I am OUT OF MY MIND and the body is telling me that six hours of not terribly restful sleep is nowhere near enough, I am going to go crash for a bit! THEN, I will finish the proofing.... And incidentally, fixing that formatting error cut the manuscript length by 2 full pages. THAT is how many lines were being wasted by that error.
	« Last Edit: Nov 29^th, 2011 at 5:53am by Penthesilea »

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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: A promise.. to myself and you... Reply #23 - Jul 7^th, 2011 at 4:02am	Print Post
	Finished the "fixing and proofing" and gained about half a page back. I then copied Book 2 into "Pages", checked and, sure enough, the same formatting error is there too. So I will have to fix it in that one too but LATER! I made another copy of Book 1 and double spaced it 'cause that is the preferred format for submission to agents. The single spaced one will likely be used for the ebook submission.
	« Last Edit: Nov 29^th, 2011 at 5:54am by Penthesilea »

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Penthesilea Forum Administrator Offline Warrior Queen, DarkLady, Phoenix, Ghostbuster Posts: 47422 Location: The Castle..... Joined: Jun 21^st, 2006 Gender:	Re: A promise.. to myself and you... Reply #24 - Sep 22^nd, 2011 at 10:12pm	Print Post
	An update: I haven't sent out a query since my last post here -- "real life" got seriously in the way -- but since preparing to "epublish" takes time, I've been thinking about the cover art I'm going to need. I decided what scene I want to use for the cover -- an "Oh " moment fairly early in the book -- and I've been collecting photo references. The figure in the background will be a composite and references were pretty easy to find. The figures in the foreground are being a PITA to find. I FINALLY found one today that with the removal of an unnecessary prop, is perfect for one of the three figures. I haven't decided if it is Our Heroine or her younger daughter but it is one of them. Now I need a second figure in a similar pose and a shorter female figure -- for Our Heroine's oldest -- with something that can be converted into a flamethrower. Yeah, they're having "that" kind of a day. I'll admit I considered -- briefly! -- a cover featuring Our Hero as he is preparing to take part in the activities at an underground sex club for vampires but I thought that might give readers the wrong impression of the book...... Post # 20,902
	« Last Edit: Nov 29^th, 2011 at 5:55am by Penthesilea »

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