I Love Jude Deveraux

1991 - Read my very first romance novel by Jude Deveraux
1991-1996 - wrote my own time travel romance, Return of the Rose
1997 - Joined RWA
1998 - 2009 - wrote at least 15 novels (time travel, contemporary, romantic suspense)
2003- 2008 - Finaled six times in RWA's Golden Heart Competition and signed with two agents
2009 - 2010 - Decided to kill some characters off. Wrote my first thriller, Abducted
2011 - Self published in March, 2011
2012 - Signed my first publishing agreement with Thomas & Mercer
2013 - Sold a half a million books and became a NY Times and USA Today Bestselling Author
2013 - Met Jude Deveraux!!!!

Me and Jude at RT in Kansas City - 2013

I recently returned from Kansas City after attending my very first Romantic Times Convention. I will be blogging about all of that in a few days.

More importantly, though, I met Jude Deveraux and I feel as if I have come full circle in my writing career.

I'm not one of those people who gets overly excited to spot a celebrity in the airport. But when my husband pointed out that my idol, Jude Deveraux, was signing books not too far away from where I was signing on Saturday May 4th at the Sheraton in Kansas City, I quickly ran off to meet her.

It's really weird to think that ONE person can change your life. What if I had never read A Knight in Shining Armor? Would I have become a writer? Sadly, I don't think so.

"The moment I read the last page, I knew I wanted to be a writer."

It all happened twenty years ago when I was pregnant with my fourth and last child and on leave of absence from work. My sister handed me Jude Deveraux's A Knight in Shining Armor and for the next few hours I was taken away to another world. The escapism and the joy I felt while reading AKISA was something I had never experienced before. I was so connected with the characters, Douglass and Nicholas. I cried and I laughed and the moment I read the last page, I knew I wanted to be a writer, too. I loved watching the heroine, Douglass Montgomery, slowly develop a backbone. She grew right before my eyes and I knew whatever life tossed her way, she would be okay. She found true love and she would find it again. I literally have chills just thinking about the story. There are so many great scenes, simple everyday events like making brownies come to mind, and seeing Dougless fall to her knees, overcome with emotion.

It's a special writer and a special book that can do that to someone...conjure up feelings so strong that they are literally lifechanging. That's what happened to me.

How about you? What lifechanging books have you read in your lifetime?

Thinking About Self-Publishing?

 If you're thinking about self-publishing, you might want to sign up for this course. This is the last one Amy Atwell will be offering until Fall.

 

Intro to Your Self-Publishing Business   Dates: April 28 - May 25, 2013

Course Details

Self-publishing provides an amazing opportunity for authors to take control of their own publishing career. It's also a lot of hard work.

This four-week lecture series and discussion group is designed to teach students about the business of self-publishing books digitally and in print.  When an author chooses to self-publish a book, it means supervising the production and distribution process.  We'll cover all the basics from the perspective of building a successful, long-runninng business:

- basics of self-employment models: sole proprietor, LLC, corporation
- protecting your privacy if you write under a pseudonym
- registering copyright
- obtaining ISBNs and when they're necessary
- finding and working with freelance editors, formatters and cover artists
- distributing directly to retailers vs using aggregators or publishing services
- self-publishing audio books and foreign translations
- where and how to sell your book
- building a basic timeline and budget
- best practices for building your self-published book
- understanding metadata and how and where it's used
- is self-publishing really for you?

Goals

- For students to gain a clearer understanding of how to self-publish
- For students to take ownership of their publishing career path
- For students to gain perspective on the financial and artistic reasons to choose self-publishing
- For students to gain knowledge and tools to help them embark on self-publishing their work
- For students to discover trustworthy resources for further research

Instructors

Kelli Finger is published under her pseudonym Abbey MacInnis and has recently set up her sole-proprietorship publishing company.  A classically-trained vocalist with a Masters of Social Work, Kelli is a strong advocate for people with disabilities and has worked for over six years as a Braille proofreader. Having faced the challenges of developing her own self-publishing career, she's eager to help others save time and understand their many options.  Kelli will be moderating the class, so don‚t hesitate to direct questions to her.

Amy Atwell is the self-published author of Ambersley, which sold 36,000 copies in its first year and hit #1 in Historical Romance on both Kindle and Nook. Amy combines 10+ years of writing experience with perspective from her previous careers in production management, retail and education to develop classes for Author E.M.S., an online resource library and service center for authors. She is an active member of RWA, MWA and HNS and founder of WritingGIAM, an online community for goal-oriented writers.
Specifics

Dates: April 28 - May 25, 2013
Taught by Amy Atwell and Kelli Finger
Cost:  $40 payable by PayPal or check
The class will take place on a Yahoo loop. Lectures will be posted to the group and in the files section. Registrants will receive an invitation to the group after they've completed the registration process (after April 23).

Registration link:  http://www.authorems.com/ai1ec_event/intro-to-self-publishing/?instance_id=
For more info, contact Amy, a.atwell@authorems.com

__._,_.___

Hey there!

When my daughter was home for spring break a few weeks ago, we made a stop motion claymation video for my thriller, ABDUCTED.

We had a lot of fun. The spider we made out of clay and used to crawl up and over the book had to have a spider double to take his place because we had to squish him to the book so many times. The spider walking across the screen by its lonseome took one hour just to film 15 seconds of video. Enjoy!

And for those of you who are curious about how some self-published authors are doing when it comes to # of books sold, check out Marie Force's blog post on E-Book Formatting Fairies website HERE.

Don't forget to have a wonderful day!

Theresa Ragan is...

A USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR!!!

I want to thank all of my readers for making so many of my dreams come true. Since becoming an indie author in March 2011, wonderful things continue to happen every week.

I have a few contests going on during the Month of April. If you want to enter my GET YOUR NAME IN MY BOOK CONTEST (Book #4 of my Lizzy Gardner Series), CLICK HERE to enter.

If you would like a chance to win an ADVANCED reading copy of Book #3 in the Lizzy Gardner series, ENTER HERE TO WIN.

Also, don't forget to subscribe to my newsletter for a chance to win a $50 gift card each month! A winner will be chosen on the 15th of every month, but you must stay subscribed to be eligible each month.

Dream big and always believe in yourself!

TO DIE FOR

Eight writers met, many for the first time, on a windy day at an all-inclusive hotel in Cancun, Mexico on February 22, 2013 in a big a** hot tub. What began as a mere spark of an idea to join together to promote and market literally exploded into plans for yearly meetings in faraway lands, including a castle in Ireland. To read more go to http://theindievoice.com/

To celebrate the official launch, the authors of The Indie Voice are giving one lucky newsletter subscriber a Mac Air or $1,000. Don't miss your chance to enter. Subscribe to the newsletter now!

We're also offering, for a limited time only, EIGHT novels in one boxed set for the ridiculously low price of $.99. That's a $33.92 savings!

Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon CA
Kobo
Apple

B&N

 

Helpful Links, Just Write, Be Happy

Christiana Miller has put together a wonderful list of helpful links for anyone thinking about self-publishing and also for those who have already taken the plunge. You'll find lists of formatters and cover artists...lists of sites where you can let readers know that your book is free. Links if you are interested in making audiobooks and links for editing software and much more! Click HERE to see what Christiana has put together!

The BEST promotion/marketing you can do for yourself if you're a writer is to WRITE.

Say NO to writer's block. Write your first draft from beginning to end without censorship. Don't worry about grammar or writing rules until the second draft. Write with abandon. Let it all out. Become your characters and go deep into their minds. Don't waste precious white space showing your characters showering and getting dressed and eating lunch. Get to the good stuff. Show readers what your characters are made of. Heroine gets into her car and it won't start. Does your heroine get angry? Does she ask her sexy neighbor for help? Does she walk to work and then get fired for being late? Does she say the heck with it and take the day off, go to the beach and find a dead body? Meet the man of her dreams? Find an abandoned dog that changes her life forever!? Once you get to the end, you can revise and cut and make the writing tight. Great writers know how to cut the crap. If you're bored with chapter two of your book, readers will be bored, too. Great writing is in the revisions.

Don't forget to enjoy life! Be grateful for what you have.

Happiness is a choice that requires effort at times

~Aeschylus

 

 

Book 3 in the Lizzy Gardner Series
Available for Pre-order!

 

Steps to Self-Publishing

Happy 2013. Since self-publishing in March 2011, many exciting things have happened to me. If you learn your craft and put in the hard work, exciting things can happen for you, too! 
 

After you self-publish your first book, I recommend spending most of your time on writing your next book. It's by far the best promotion you can do.

 

Listed below are the steps I used when I first began my journey to self-publishing in March, 2011. Things are changing fast, including the way books are formatted, but this easy to follow list should get you started. There are many cover artists out there and many copy editors and proofreaders. If you write romance, I suggest you join Indie Romance Ink to see what other authors are doing. If you don't write romance, no worries, WG2E has lots of tips for writers who are thinking about self-publishing. EMS for Authors also offers lots of advice and helpful tips. These are truly great sites that can help you, but if you're new to self-publishing, you have a lot of reading to do.

For the first three months of my journey, I was learning everything I could...reading blogs and soaking in any and all information I could find. I suggest you do the same. Use your instincts when making a decision about when or where to advertise. If ten people tell you not to go FREE, you should try it for yourself before you decide if it works for you. There is no one-step process to self-publishing. Every writer will have their own journey. I know plenty of successful Indie authors who don't spend a dime on advertising.

When it comes to self-publishing, what do you have to lose? Maybe you won't sell hundreds of books right away...you need to be patient. If you're passionate about writing, write another book while you let readers discover your first book. Nobody is going to believe in your stories more than YOU.

Becoming an independent author has been life-changing for me. I now get to write every day. For the first time in 20 years, I am making money doing what I love best. If you want to succeed, you must work hard. Never stop learning and growing. Good luck!

Here are the steps I took:

1.Write a great book.

2.Hire a proofreader. I use Faith Williams at Theatwatergroup. Send her an email and get a quote. More editors and proofreaders are listed below.

3.Find a cover artist. LFD Designs for Authors has done all of my covers. She offers premade covers from $20 to $60 and custom covers now start at $100.

4.Hire a formatter. For $40 you can hire Lucinda Campbell at LK-E-Book Formatting Services to format your manuscript for Amazon (KDP), Barnes & Noble (Pubit), Smashwords, and Kobo (Writing Life). Go to Lucinda's website and email her to get a quote and get started. In a matter of weeks, depending on her schedule, she can have your manuscript ready for download.

5.Register at AMAZON (KDP) by going to KDP.AMAZON.COM and download the prc file that your formatter sends you. KDP = Kindle Direct Publishing

6.Register at BARNES & NOBLE (PUBIT) by going to PUBIT.BARNESANDNOBLE.COM and download the epub file that your formatter sends you.

7.Register at SMASHWORDS.COM and download the word doc file that your formatter sends you.

8. Once you have published, you can copyright your book for a fee of $35. Go HERE.

9.You can also buy ISBN'S FROM BOWKER if you want.
Go HERE to learn about International ISBN’s.

I did buy the $10 Smashword ISBN for Smashwords. And I let B&N and Amazon assign an ISIN #. When I used CreateSpace for my print on demand books, I used their FREE ISBN. The reason I spent $10 for the ISBN at Smashwords is because I wanted my name to show up as the publisher…not smashwords.

10.If you want a print book, it's easy and free if you do it yourself. Register at CreateSpace.com. Use CreateSpace to help you with book covers, formatting, and editing for a fee, or you can go to the site, register for free, download a FREE template and then copy and paste your manuscript into the template one chapter at a time. CreateSpace will provide you with a FREE ISBN number.

TIPS FOR PUBLISHING A PRINT BOOK (provided by Dana Delamar)
If you need help, Bob Sanchez walks you through the process HERE. Ignore the part about the Pro Plan, since that is no longer available.

11. Start a Twitter Account

12. Start a Facebook Account

13. Make a FREE website using Blogger or WordPress. Talk about whatever makes you happy!

14.Once I began to make money, I used Pixel of Ink (no longer available for authors to buy sponsorships), The Romance Reviews, Cents-ible eReads, The Frugal eReaders, Digital Book Today, and EYE ON ROMANCE and JUST ROMANTIC SUSPENSE to advertise. To see more about how I spent my advertising dollars go HERE to see an article I wrote for WG2E.

MISCELLANEOUS

SUSAN KAY QUINN'S SELF PUB-BASICS (4 parts)
ISBN FAQ
Author E.M.S. Sites where you can PROMOTE
Copyright your work
Joan Reeves Archives - Lots of info
Quick guide to HTML for Kindle

Bob Sanchez walks you through making a print book using STEP BY STEP SELF-PUBLISHING

Kimberly Killion - Writer Resources
iStock Photos - pictures and music for covers and/or making book trailers
Brenda Hiatt - Show Me the Money
The Book Deal - An inside view on publishing - lots of great articles
Tools For Writers - Pam Roller
Joe Konrath's A Newbie's Guide to Publishing
Jennifer on Writing - print vs. Epub Article Review sites: tips, resources, What's new in e-publishing
Author EMS - Writer's Resource for EVERYTHING.
The Writer's Guide to Epublishing - One of my favorite places!

EDITORS
Proofread and More, Alicia Street
Proofreader, Faith Williams @ The Atwater Group
Freelance Editor, Pat Thomas
Freelance Editor - Glen Krisch
Victory Editing
Laura Morrigan
Copyeditingsaveslives.com - Vickie Taylor
Annie Seaton

FORMATTING
Lucinda Campbell
Formatting4U - Judi Fennell
Brett Battles
Formatting - Rik Hall
Guido Henkel talks about formatting for kindle on your own
Take Pride in Formatting your Ebook by Guido Henkel

COVER ARTISTS
LFD for Authors - My cover artist!
Kimberly Van Meter
Kim Killion
EarthlyCharms
WickedSmartDesigns


REVIEW SITES
Tracy Riva Reviews
Journey of a Bookseller
We Write Romance Everybody Needs a Little Romance
The Indie Book Review - Huge list of MANY reviewers!

Caroline Clemmons