This is so much work

I thought writing the book was work. Holy cow promoting it and publishing it and then republishing it is work too. So of course now that my husband has seen a finished product he has decided to help me. I love the help I really do but it would have made my life easier if he would have been the research guru that he his now months ago. There are a few more new things he has learned and shared with me. For instance that free isbn number that CreateSpace gave me. I should not have taken it. I should have just gotten my own because now I have to retire my CreateSpace isbn and upload a whole new file and cover image and start from scratch in order to change my isbn. There was an article that suggested I drop my CS isbn and replace it with my own isbn and then I can print on demand through Create Space for online retailers and I can use Lightening for bookstore orders. I am sharing this information because I'm hoping my mistakes and trials and success will help someone else at some point.

So in a nutshell if you want to offer print on demand books and your goal is to see in bookstores you need your own ISBN.You are better off at Lightening. If you want to focus on online sales then the best place to be is Create Space but I would suggest getting your own number so if you want to do both you can. More than one ISBN is not a good idea because best seller lists are based on isbn tracking. Clear as mud?

Marketing! Marketing! Marketing!

Exciting things are happening. I printed off a list of local bookstores under the Chapters/Indigo umbrella and made a couple of phone calls. It seems most managers have taken vacation this week so I do have to call a few back but I did have success with a chapters store who has agreed to carry my book on a 30 day consignment trial and another store requested I email my book's information as they do have space available. Only one loaction (a small coles store) said it was more bother than it was worth to set up an indi author so I wrote her a two page letter begging her to reconsider. Will see how that pans out. There are fifty stores within a two hour drive from me and my goal is to get in all of them over the next twelve months. I am not above begging.

I sold an ebook on Amazon.es which is Spain. Totally cool!

We managed to book a booth at Word on the street, which is a huge book festival in Toronto where there will be over 250,000 readers on site looking for their next great read. I am completely pumped and we contacted create space to speed up my re-edit which is scheduled for proofing on the 23rd but today they said they will prioritize and will have it ready by the 16th so we will have our order in on time for the festival. It takes around 11-14 days from ordering to actually receive the books. Expediting shipping is too pricey. Especially since I have already paid for 100 copies that I am selling at a discount due to editing errors. My fault not CreateSpace.

One other thing I wanted to mention that I noticed today was that although you may get a printing package a little cheaper than what CreateSpace will do it for The cost per book is a much better price at CreateSpace. Based on the printing costs being relatively reasonable I do not have to price gouge to make a buck. Sometimes once the vendors take a cut there isn't much left. I was on an indi site where the printing costs to do my book to exact specifications was literally double the price. Based on that the minimum list price was almost thirty dollars because they take a little bit on top of that printing cost as well. My online price(because I don't cover shipping costs) is $13.95 and I am pretty sure my vendor list price will be around $14.95.

So things are continuing to move forward. My average rating on Goodreads is 4.25 and I am thrilled!
I almost forgot there is a book trailer in the works too.
.
Till next time <3
KC

What to do?

So I am trying to decide if I should read or write this evening. Its been a few weeks since I have read anything. Most of my books are packed in boxes. (The ones I was able to salvage). We recently had a flood and I lost the bottom shelf of two book shelves and some boxes I had in my storage room. It was heart breaking to junk them.
On Dublin Street was recommended to me recently. The title sounded familiar... The next day I realized it was on my to be read shelf in my rec room. No wonder it sounded familiar I had purchased it my last trip to the book store. Problem is I literally have to dig through  several boxes to find it. I am a bit hesitant to write simply because I have been writing in circles lately. A bunch of fluff not much of anything. There are some really good key plot elements that I have to get to but I am having difficulty getting to them. I have learned through writing The Jaxon Effect that it's because the direction I am going is the wrong one because I forced it. Eventually it will click and I will be able to write for days without coming up for air. But until then I will be walking around with knots in my stomach until I can get something substantial on paper and dump the words that are stored far back in my subconscious.
The story belongs to the characters. I am like a fly on the wall watching and relaying what I see. I can't think about the story I have to see the story. I'm not sure if that's how it is for other people but that's how it is for me. So I know its recommended that you should write through a block but I don't like to. It gets me more frustrated. I just have to wait until Kate and Jaxon invite me into their world again so I can continue to tell the story. I hope it's soon! I think I'll make myself a latte!

Moving Right Along!

I am moving right along

Ordered promotional books
Have my book available on Amazon
Set up with Smashwords  who will be able to distribute my book in all formats to all major devices
I have my website   www.thejaxoneffect.com
I have found some ladies at Goodreads that are going to review my book
I have a Facebook page that is getting more fans every day
I have read tons of marketing articles
I formed my blog
I have a twitter account
I requested an isbn for my book registered to me the author so indie stores will consider shelving
Requested an author page on Goodreads so I may offer promotional material
I sent emails to people I know and asked them to spread the word

Still to do

Order business cards, bookmarks and sell sheets
Set up some public appearances
Continue to search for professional book reviews

 I am taking all of the textbook steps that have been recommended. I just need to figure out some of my own. :)



My motto is sell one book at a time!

Now if I could just figure out how to schedule myself properly so I can promote my book and write in the same day that would be great!

I think I need to find more reading  groups to crash! Maybe I will pop in on my old book club. Drop off some freebies!

Amazon!

I really didn't have to think about what I am going to write about today. I am a bit frustrated with Amazon. Last night I realized they put my book on sale which is great! Since I don't have that freedom to discount at random myself unless I want to change the cover price I am happy they did it. 17% off. Odd number but whatever a deal is a deal. When I realized this was the case I posted it on my Facebook page to let people know. Shortly after I received a message from a potential buyer stating shipping was expensive and they have purchased on Amazon in the past and never had to pay that much. I decided to do a mock order to see how much was too much. Wow it was almost ten bucks because they charge almost five bucks for a handling charge and then the shipping on top, to be clear this is on Canadian orders. For US orders the shipping and handling is only 3.99 and a buyer told me they were charged no tax. I think the Kindle ebook is the best deal right now for Canadian readers.

On a positive note I am seeing sales. I have of course been sent several messages from people who would like to buy direct from me so they can get an autographed copy. I wish my personal order would come in already. (which I had sent to a US address because shipping for 100 books was $90.00 to Canada vs $43.00 sending them to my in-laws.) Luckily I live in a border city and have that luxury.

Next up is reformatting my book for Smashwords uploading (saves me from individual device uploading) and contacting Amazon.ca to figure out how the heck I can get my print book for sale on there. For some reason CreateSpace has it on .UK and .Org but they have no agreement with .CA so I need to take care of that one myself. I wouldn't say any of the things I have had to do so far has been difficult just time consuming but I have to get this all done so I can get back to writing!

Stalled at KWL!

Well last night I was able to get two chapters edited and a third partially written. So I have 5500 words down and only 90k ish to go in the second installment of The Jaxon Effect. A new character evolved recently and it turns out he's a bit of a dick. I'm really curious to see what his main role will be in the over all story line. I have an idea but I find the story never goes where I think its going to go. The characters tend to tell he story. I'm just the messenger. I am grateful that these particular characters decided to take up residence in my head and not someone else's.

I am still trying to get my book set up through KWL (Kobo Writing Life) but I'm having trouble with getting it to recognize my credit union as an actual real financial entity. I sent an email off to them hoping they will shed some light.

This morning when I checked my facebook I noticed I had one person post a link to my book and another's status was that she was looking forward to reading it on her camping trip.
That's a good sign!

I am still waiting for my own shipment of books to arrive so I can begin begging book stores to carry my book. I think it's going to be fun. But then again I haven't begun so I might eat my words.

Kindle has added the "Look Inside " feature to my book. I think that's so cool. Since I am a Newborn Author my work will have to speak for itself because no one yet knows who KC Michaels is. But one day everyone will. Ah ha I know what you are thinking.....  I thought the same thing when my son auditioned for his first commercial at the age of six. He is now eight and has been in two feature films a number of commercials, a TV Hallmark movie a few appearances in sit coms and dramas. Not to mention he does voice over for a few cartoon series. Okay I'm bragging but I'm a proud MAMA! Anyway my point to that is you have to believe and never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game. My little man inspired me to go for my dream. I hope you al have someone who inspires you!
Have a happy day!!!

My first book is for sale..... Finally

As of today I am going to make an effort to Blog on a regular basis. That being said since I have not been blogging I will catch you up to speed. I do in fact finally have my book for sale. I decided to self publish with CreateSpace. My experience with them has been overall pretty positive with the exception with the time it takes to get anything done. However for quality and communication I do give them an A. 

Now the extra service I paid for was the Cover Creator. I think a professionally designed cover is very important. I feel they delivered based on my specifications. I kind of wish I went with white font instead of gold but that would be my fault not theirs. 

What I wanted to mention was converting the book from print to an ebook. They do offer this service for the low price of $69.00. I would have paid that with a smile on my face but the time it was going to take for it to be "Kindle Ready" was 3-4 weeks. I had read so many articles about the fact that during the conversion process a manuscript can get pretty ugly. The spacing and indents get pretty messed up. After reading through the kindle direct site I realized I could preview it before I offered it for sale so I decided to give it a go. I thought based on things I had read that I should use Calibre for conversion to mobi. It actually wasn't necessary but I am glad I did because it created a nice file with all my book files in one folder and saved it on my computer. I pulled my image from my Calibre file (Which it found on its own through metadata) and my original ms word manuscript. Presto I have an ebook. Now I think the fact that my manuscript was reformatted to perfection by CreateSpace was how I was able to avoid all of the problems people encounter. My spacing was perfect and my chapter headers came out great. Kindle told me in 12 hours I will have an ebook. This morning when I woke up and checked I do in fact have an ebook for sale. :)

Since I had a pretty easy time with Kindle I figured I would upload to Kobo Writing Life. KWL converts files to epub. This conversion had a few problems but nothing I couldn't live with or fix. With KWL you can actually edit in the preview. I had to re-center my chapter headers and I changed the font. I lost all of my paragraph indents but honestly I don't mind too much. I could have spent hours fixing that but I didn't (because I can barely use word, so everything program related takes me forever!) Everything seemed to run smooth until I had to set up my depository account info. Apparently there is an issue with me using a credit union instead of a major bank. I'm not positive that's the problem but I can't see what else it could be. I have to look into this today.

So now what do I do? I market the crap out of it. I am not the most organized person. I don't have a fool-proof plan. But I do have a desire and a passion so I'm going to fly by the seat of my pants and see if I can get my book out there. 

I will post my Marketing efforts as they come. I have ordered 100 copies myself to use mainly as marketing tools. My mom however wants me to send her a dozen right away(signed of course) to sell to her friends. She is proud as a peacock of my accomplishment. She actually read a not so perfect draft version of my manuscript and she called to ask me when book two will be complete. I laughed because I'm only on Chapter 2.