Over the past couple of months I’ve been teaching myself the ePub thing in Adobe InDesign CS5.5 (a Christmas present from my lovely husband), which wasn’t so hard except when you have images that kind of have to be where they are, the way they are. Figured it out, sort of. It just got to the point where I had …
Reviewed at the Madhouse #twistedtales
Sending out a special “thanks” to Stephanie Wytovich for her review of Twisted in her latest post in the Madhouse. It warms my cockles when somebody gets it: http://joinmeinthemadhouse.blogspot.com/2012/02/featured-author-in-madhouse-nora.html “…it fuses the worlds of literature and art together in such a macabre fashion where it’s suitable for kids, but still really creepy and entertaining for adults.” If you (or someone …
Contest entering
I spent a lot of time this month preparing books to be sent out for writer’s contests, and I still don’t know. Should I be doing that? Does the starburst stickers on the covers of books really make people want to buy them more? And is that what it should even be about? The groups giving out the awards kind of market …
Author pages on Goodreads and Amazon
I’m learning, I’m learning. Everything I’m learning about one thing as a publisher leads me off onto another island of things I need to learn about and do which ends up scooting my raft off onto the next island. Somewhere in the middle of all this Twisted book stuff, I was able to put together a couple of author pages on Goodreads …
Books out for review
While I was trying to find contact information to send out books to local libraries, I started seeing a pattern of replies: some of the bigger libraries want to see book reviews from major sources before they’re willing to stock your book in their library. So I guess I need to back up the truck a little. In researching reviewers, I’m …
Book plates for the libraries
In my last post here (two weeks ago—I know), I told you about how I set up a form on the Hairy Eyeballs site where you could request a free book for your local public library. Well, things haven’t exactly gone as planned (as if they ever do)… About five days after that post I totally migrated all my sites, …
Free books for your library!
On my Facebook page, I asked friends and followers to give me the name and address of their local library so that I could send them a copy of the book. I really wanted to support local libraries, and I thought just flat-out asking would be a good idea. Turns out, people know the names of their libraries, but don’t automatically …
Five-Star Amazon Reviews!
The book has received some excellent reviews on both Amazon and Barnes and Noble, along with some five-star ratings! I’m not sure what these people are on, but I’m hoping some more people find it. Here’s one that I hope sums it all up: “Excellent sick little work of art” Yeah. That’s what I’m talking about. But the book needs …
Getting Dirty From Newspaper Print
I did an interview a couple of weeks ago with a local newspaper about the Twisted book and how I funded it through Kickstarter. They took some pictures of me along with some of the Kickstarter rewards a few days after the interview. The article printed just this past Monday. Here’s the online version, mercifully minus the horrid photo of …
The hard cover books are in!
After a few hiccups in the printing process (mostly on my part), I’ve finally been able to get the correct files uploaded and accepted at the printer! I ordered a bunch, and the hard cover shipment showed up yesterday. They look fantastic. A couple of days ago the book appeared on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, but without all the …
The Waiting Is the Hardest Part
We’ve hit a few snags with the printer. Some mistakes (on my part), some computer glitches (on their part), some wailing and nashing of teeth (all the way around). Good news first: The hard cover format has been proofed and accepted (after first being rejected and re-uploaded), and an initial order has been placed for 250 copies to be sent to me. …
This should make me a happy camper
I have to admit, I haven’t been creating much in the world of illustration lately. I’ve been focused pretty intently on getting my book out (in a few weeks, my pretties), painting a few Rots (just finished Buster on Wednesday) and getting organized for the fall SCBWI conference coming up next month in Gettysburg. Yeah. About that conference. This year I decided to …