Happy Release Day!

Today is release day for a good friend of mine T. Sue VerSteeg. She’ll be guest blogging here soon, but today she’s enjoying time at When Midnight Comes and Midnight Moon Cafe with Cassandra Curtis. So stop by, win prizes, enjoy her new book Secrets of the Sapphires and have a wonderful day!!

Are you hot under the collar?

Boy I am! No I’m not mad about anything. I’m hot!

Am I leading up to reporting miraculous sales? Only in my dreams.

So just a quick update. I’m not rocking the ebook shelves. I wish I was as cool as my sales! They’re frigid!

No worries. This is an experiment remember? First we see how it does. So far it’s still not in any big name places, but hopefully by next week it will be. Then we’ll examine how it’s doing.

Until then, keep cool. It’s hot out there.

Samples vs. Purchases

I must say it’s very exciting to see the downloads increase a little at a time for a book/short story. It is discouraging however to see the purchases as empty as it was before you published something. LOL

Here’s the good news! Right Before Her Eyes made it into the premium catalog in Smashwords.  Now the real waiting and nail biting begin! In approximately 2 weeks Right Before Her Eyes will be in places such as Barnes and Noble and the like. I’m not sure about Amazon as I hear there are a few software issues they are working on, but soon it should be sorted out.

So now we wait. This story is really so short that perhaps no one will bother to purchase/read it, but I’m learning the process and learning is always an adventure!

I will try to to keep updating here how things move along, or rather not move whichever the case may be. Meanwhile I’m off to work on a story that’s been in the works for a couple of years now.

Update Obsession

Updates.

They drive us crazy. We over check our Facebooks, we check our blog stats, and we check our bottom line. So what makes us so update crazy?

I don’t have a clue, but I thought I’d share my self publishing status with you. There are many writers sharing their experiences  in this new publishing world. I’m nothing more than a tiny little ant among thousands, and what I have to say will not overly effect anyone in the grand scheme of things.  So I will try to post what happens with my own books here.

A sum up of Right Before Her Eyes.

I originally wrote Right Before Her Eyes to target  a Woman’s World romance story.  After it’s rejection, I let the story sit.

Fast forward to now. I dusted off the hard drive the story was sitting on and read the story for the first time in three or four years. Woman’s World was right in their standard R. This thing sucked.

So I edited, rewrote things, edited again and on and on until I could at least for now live with it.

I sent it to friends, asked suggestions. Edited again. And again.

Then inspiration struck me for a book cover. When time allowed I snapped a few pictures and then the hard part- picking the right one.

I added text. Deleted text. Added it again. Until I was happy with what I’d done.  This wasn’t new to me, as I’d made bookcovers before. I’m not anywhere close to being a pro, but I can dabble with Photoshop.

I already knew I wanted to try Smashwords. I didn’t have to wonder or debate what I wanted to do with the story now that it was  nearly ready. I already had my account before I’d even remembered writing the story all those years ago. So now all I had to do was format it. I’d heard the horror stories. I’d also read the Smashwords Style Guide and from years of working, living, breathing writing with other writers it at least wasn’t foreign to me.

This didn’t stop me from being scared stupid that I’d make a horrible mess.

I very tiredly worked on the formatting most of a Sunday night. Reminding myself I’d be better off to ‘go to bed’ and work on it in the daytime ‘like normal people would do’. I’ve never been ‘normal’. LOL

I uploaded the cover and file that night.

So far it’s made it through the meatgrinder and I’m awaiting status reports on the “Premium Catalog” where my little story can be purchased from the major outlets like the Kindle and Nook. Cross your fingers for me! I don’t know how that will turn out.

So in one day I check the stats and low and behold! It says I have between 80-100 pageviews! Wow seriously? Sample downloads…6. Hahaha ok well it’s only the first day or two right?

Let’s keep in mind that if it was free, I might have seen some downloading action. Since it’s not, I may not have the first download. And that’s okay for now. Ten years from now. Ok then I’ll call this a failed experiment. But for write now, I’ll continue to click refresh and see what the status report is.

Sweet dreams.

I’m excited, not very conductive to sleep, but writing at night is what I do best. I hope if you’ve found my site, you’ve read my short story Right Before Her Eyes available on Smashwords.

I write sweet and short romances that I hope everyone enjoys. Please check back for more posts, updates, and even more books!

Cindy Adams makes the same dish every year for the hometown picnic. This year it’s the same only she’s divorced and starting over. She finds strength in the stability of family and friends. Sometimes when you’re not looking for love, it finds you.

Can forever be found over a time honored dish?

Originally targeted for magazine publication at 1,000 words, this is a short story.