And Life Goes On

So, I'm a published author now.  Funny, I don't feel any different and no one has asked me to sign their kindle for them.  When I get congratulations on my book, in my humble Minnesota way I want to dismiss them.  After all, it's really self published and not validated by an agent or publishing house.

On the other hand, I do believe that my writing is fair, otherwise I would not have put it out there.  It's not perfect or going to win the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature.  But it is carefully crafted and edited until it cried "uncle."  After all, I have been published in print before and know a little about the process.

Knitting by Faith is currently ranked #6 in the "knitting" category for kindle.  Which amuses me as the sales are less than the amount to send out a royalty deposit.  Yesterday it was #14 after the first overnight sales.  And I've beat out the Yarn Harlot by quite a bit right too.

I know the sales will fall a bit once the "family & friends" copies are done with.  What has surprised me is the wide variety of friends that I am able to call on to share my book with.  I hadn't realized how many different friendship circles that I have; knitting friends, church groups, writing buddies and even some online forums that I've frequented.  They all have been very encouraging and supportive so far.  I do realize that it is these types of groups that are less likely to give me feedback that might hurt my feelings (except the writing groups) I would be fine if any would give me non-positive feedback too, as long as it's honest and helpful.

And so, life marches on and it's time to work on my taxes.

In other news - you may have noticed the new look of the blog.  I've added a few new features to the sidebar on the right.  Part of me doesn't like the added "clutter" look, but on the other hand, each item is important to have IMO.  I've also added a blogroll that features other writers whom I know personally.  When you finish my book and need something else to read, give their blogs a try.

The Value of Blogs

 
I have been blogging since 2004, first at Live Journal and then went "baaa" and followed everyone to blogger.  And yes, sometimes I flirt with the thought of going Wordpress.  But let's not get into that right now.

Last night after I spruced up my intro devotion, I went in search of the files for other ones that I've written.  Only a couple were here in my google docs, and none of course on my little netbook I'm using now since I've only had it a few months.  So, they must be in the files on the laptop - recovered from when our previous laptop died.  But to my surprise, I couldn't find all the files.

Tonight I did some more searching, in my blogs.  I know that I had posted something about a knitting lifeline a ways back, but couldn't remember which blog.  And as I searched my tags, I wondered, did I just dream it?  But no, I found it and audibly cheered.  My husband seemed a bit confused as I babbled happily at finding a lifeline in my tags.

The content has been copied over and safe in my devotional doc.  Come to think of it, I think I better back the darn thing up before I really lose it all.

My next challenge (besides finishing this thing) is to format the book right as I go.  It's a lot more work to write something and then go back and have to turn every stinkin' paragraph into an indent instead of double spaced like I do here - when I could've done it right all along.

For now, I'm focusing on the Amazon publishing platform.  Not because the other ways aren't valid, but the majority of success for ebooks comes from Amazon.  After the "launch" of my version, I'll probably go to someplace like smashwords and upload it there too.

And one more thing...I'm going to start stalking the Amazon forums for kindle writers.  Lots to do, but so far, so good.

Novel Rocket

Oh no - it's not night yet, and I'm posting!  Well, weekends always did throw off a night job.  While I wait to leave for church, there's a little time to throw out a blog link that I've come to like.


One of the free kindle books that I have enjoyed is called Crossing Oceans by Gina Holmes.  After reading the book, I looked her up online and found that she had started a blog for writers called Novel Rocket.  This isn't your one-author type of writing blog, it has a different author chime in a topic each day.  They write about things to help writers succeed and not feel isolated and abnormal. 

The best part - you can subscribe by email to them. This is one of the ways that I keep writing in front of me daily - by reading (or skimming - sorry!) the email post daily.  Sometimes I'll find something interesting to ponder, and other times I just delete it because of lack of time.  But it does remind me daily that yes - I am to be in the habit of writing and connected to writers. 

One thing I've noticed about it though, they haven't as yet promoted Indie eWriters yet.   I hope that will change as the quality of ebooks rises.

Find the Novel Rocket Blog here.  I'll add it to my page of blog links.