|
Post by ChrisLAdams on Mar 27, 2017 6:32:07 GMT -8
Got Book 5 off to a stumbling start.
Everything went pretty smooth with Smash - no vetter errors. Did forget to upload the cover on first pass, and had to go back and select a free ISBN. It went online quickly after that.
'Zon was a different matter.
I had an old 'draft' (since they won't allow you to delete those) sitting in my bookshelf. So I decided I would utilize that, change the title, new manuscript, cover, description & etcetera and the old draft would now become my latest story. That don't work - so don't try it.
It ended up publishing as the original title it started out as (The Valley of Despair) with the original text, an old version of the cover (not the cover for Cosmos I uploaded) and the new title (The Cosmos of Despair) but when I looked at my Author Page it only showed the original four books. Hmmm.
Gads, I thought, what a friggin' mess.
So I had to quickly unpublish it and then just start a fresh new publication which is now 'publishing'.
I sure wish one had control of their bookshelf. I've read many upbeat comments about 'Zons Author Central, but shi* the bed, why can't I do something simple as delete a 'draft', or at least convert it into a new publication?
I think I have it all sorted now. It was certainly a learning experience. I believe that old draft of Valley of Despair is a permanent fixture in my 'zon bookshelf at this point, unless I take the route of emailing the bookshelf trolls and asking, purty please, take this flaming bag of poo off my front stoop.
|
|
|
Post by Ted on Mar 28, 2017 9:13:34 GMT -8
What authors need is a retail/distribution site created by authors who've experienced all the shi*.
|
|
|
Post by garyweston on Mar 28, 2017 11:40:04 GMT -8
I knew there was a rebel lurking inside you, Ted. At the risk of banging the D2D drum too much, that was their intention, also. A bunch of Indies frustrated with smash and the others, just a bunch who dreamed of a better way. I've not published with smash for a couple of years now, but I doubt they have evolved much beyond inconsequential tweaking. (correct me if I'm wrong which I often am). Smash seem to be stuck in their own time warp, lacking direction and spend much of their time marching up and down their corridors yelling obscenities about the devil god Zon. By contrast, if you don't visit D2D for six months, you go "Wow, what the...?" on the return visit. Even the devil god tries all manner of things in their quest for world domination. If they actually involved we writers occasionally, they might come up with something worthwhile. I'll not hold my asthmatic breath waiting for that to happen. Where does all this leave us poor bloody Indies? Creatives live our lives in supreme confusion, overawed at the sight of a rainbow, a child's chuckle, a poem that moves us. That we can actually concentrate long enough to write anything defies comprehension. Imagine the muddled mess we would make of our own site. Pass the whiskey!
|
|
|
Post by ChrisLAdams on Mar 28, 2017 11:51:29 GMT -8
Creatives live our lives in supreme confusion, overawed at the sight of a rainbow, a child's chuckle, a poem that moves us. That we can actually concentrate long enough to write anything defies comprehension. You got that right. At the moment I yet delight in my 7 yo's dwindling naïveté and in a 19th century .32 Henry Short I ground-dug doing some metal detecting. I get the utmost joy out of watching an old Bob Ross on Netflix, and picking out passing scenery and wondering 'could I do that?' It took me 8/9 mos to conceive, write, edit, rewrite my latest story - it's only some 80k in length. Of course, that's juggling being a full-time hubby, daddy and System Engineer to boot. So maybe that's not so bad? Makes me want to grab a canvas and do a Bob Ross sky.
|
|
|
Post by garyweston on Mar 28, 2017 12:46:33 GMT -8
I read your quote of mine and considering my alcoholic haze it ain't half bad. So grab a canvas and push the paint around. I was on our local bus today and watched a young man coping admirably with three tots, knowing full well I'd never have done as well, though I never got the chance. Chris, you are doing exceptionally well by being able to find time to write at all. I admire that commitment. But you are a creative and that will not be denied. I also did some metal detecting, back in the day. Of our little club, I was the first to find one of the new pound coins. That was 30 years ago and now a new pound coin is being released. Of late, that old club has found what is now called the Staffordshire hoard of ancient gold artifacts. www.google.co.uk/search?q=staffordshire+hoard&client=opera&hs=ftf&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiQoNq4ifrSAhVjBsAKHcifAhgQsAQIZQ&biw=1366&bih=660It doesn't surprise me that metal detecting and writing would have a common link. We all dream of what might be, what treasures we might unearth. Digging beneath the dirt to find the gems is much the same as allowing our furtive imaginations loose to let free the treasure chest of ideas. Ideas have been known to change the world. Dust off your "metal detectors" and dig deep into your well of possibilities. Trust me. It's there. Damn! I'm all out of whiskey!!!
|
|
|
Post by ChrisLAdams on Mar 29, 2017 4:31:35 GMT -8
I read your quote of mine and considering my alcoholic haze it ain't half bad. So grab a canvas and push the paint around. I was on our local bus today and watched a young man coping admirably with three tots, knowing full well I'd never have done as well, though I never got the chance. Chris, you are doing exceptionally well by being able to find time to write at all. I admire that commitment. But you are a creative and that will not be denied. I also did some metal detecting, back in the day. Of our little club, I was the first to find one of the new pound coins. That was 30 years ago and now a new pound coin is being released. Of late, that old club has found what is now called the Staffordshire hoard of ancient gold artifacts. www.google.co.uk/search?q=staffordshire+hoard&client=opera&hs=ftf&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiQoNq4ifrSAhVjBsAKHcifAhgQsAQIZQ&biw=1366&bih=660It doesn't surprise me that metal detecting and writing would have a common link. We all dream of what might be, what treasures we might unearth. Digging beneath the dirt to find the gems is much the same as allowing our furtive imaginations loose to let free the treasure chest of ideas. Ideas have been known to change the world. Dust off your "metal detectors" and dig deep into your well of possibilities. Trust me. It's there. Damn! I'm all out of whiskey!!! No that quote ain't bad at all! Damm the torpedoes and pass the whiskey! As to metal detecting I'm new at it in practice, but have dreamed of doing it for years. Just one of those 'bucket list' things I guess - always intended to get a detector and give it a go. I'm a war buff, so on these shores finding a m1860 Cavalry sword or a .58 cal Springfield bullet would be killer. Where I live is practically in the 'Bible Belt' of the Civil War. The very town I live in has some interesting war history. I'm one step closer to painting - a good friend bought me a new easel for my birthday. With the purchase of a couple more items I'll be ready. You're certainly right that we creative types need these outlets. We're dreamers, so we grasp at the seemingly unattainable. For myself I can't hardly recall when I wasn't building models, drawing, playing music or writing stories or poems. I just can't help myself - I have to do it. With this latest publication I plan to take a few weeks and just do some reading, metal detecting, and yes - maybe some painting. Looking forward to the break from the stress of world-creation - but then I'll be back at it. The last I checked, my hero Ansen was in the deserts of Peru seeking a Scottish lass and her banshee familiar. Need to get back to the Atacama and help him out
|
|
|
Post by Ted on Mar 31, 2017 2:27:52 GMT -8
When I lived on Vancouver Island about 15 years agao I had a Minelab metal detector. Can't think of the model, but it had lots of fine tuning stuff which I could never figure out. Used to walk the beaches with it. At first I found a lot of junk like pull-tabs from beer cans, later a few silver coins. Never found anything of value, but did have a lot of fun with it. Good exercise, except when it was raining.
|
|
|
Post by ChrisLAdams on Mar 31, 2017 7:27:50 GMT -8
When I lived on Vancouver Island about 15 years agao I had a Minelab metal detector. Can't think of the model, but it had lots of fine tuning stuff which I could never figure out. Used to walk the beaches with it. At first I found a lot of junk like pull-tabs from beer cans, later a few silver coins. Never found anything of value, but did have a lot of fun with it. Good exercise, except when it was raining. I've found it to be exciting so far, although I haven't found much. The Henry .32 Rimfire Short was neat since it was made from 1860-1900 - pretty antiquy. I can't recall the model of mine either, but I know what you mean. They got weird adjustments - I just set the sensitivity to 'High' and dig! I found a pull-tab same day I found the cartridge.
|
|
|
Post by garyweston on Jun 14, 2017 15:10:02 GMT -8
Draft2Digital have announced a new affiliate for audiobooks. Dunno. Not checked it out too much yet, but here is a direct link to the findaway site. findawayvoices.com
|
|
chelsfield
SWF Writers
Posts: 700
Joined: Mar 28, 2012 3:07:24 GMT -8
|
Post by chelsfield on Jun 14, 2017 23:45:25 GMT -8
What authors need is a retail/distribution site created by authors who've experienced all the shi*. Ted, I wonder if there is anywhere on this site that contributing authors can just have a brief paragraph on the mechanics and promotion of their publishing. For instance, Gary doesn't publish with Smash, but I know he distributes his work through other channels aside from Amazon. Many others have tried different ways of publishing and promotion. I know I could hunt through different threads to discover what Gary or Julie or you are doing to distribute your books, but that would take a while and I am sure to miss pearls. I also acknowledge that we have our profiles, but could there be a more visible way, readily available to newbies and those like myself who think, "now I know DJ had some good advice on this, now where is it?!"
|
|
|
Post by garyweston on Jun 15, 2017 0:13:14 GMT -8
Nothing mysterious about my publishing choices as all have been explained on this site. Amazon, directly. D2D for other things, Wheelers for library deals, Booktrack for something different, Createspace for my rare paperbacks (via Zon) and anything else that crops up just to suck it and see, also shared here. Worth saying, however, D2D was created by writers who thought there must be easier / better ways than smash. But I do see that a separate thread here could also be useful for the more obscure promo sites that crop up now and then, as well as news on one off's like genre specific anthologies. A google with short story competitions always brings up a rash of promo opportunities but always put the year in the search to avoid those gone. Goodreads is a good source of promos for shorts and poetry. With all this at our fingertips, it amazes me how we get any writing done.
|
|
|
Post by ChrisLAdams on Jun 15, 2017 4:32:56 GMT -8
What authors need is a retail/distribution site created by authors who've experienced all the shi*. Ted, I wonder if there is anywhere on this site that contributing authors can just have a brief paragraph on the mechanics and promotion of their publishing. For instance, Gary doesn't publish with Smash, but I know he distributes his work through other channels aside from Amazon. Many others have tried different ways of publishing and promotion. I know I could hunt through different threads to discover what Gary or Julie or you are doing to distribute your books, but that would take a while and I am sure to miss pearls. I also acknowledge that we have our profiles, but could there be a more visible way, readily available to newbies and those like myself who think, "now I know DJ had some good advice on this, now where is it?!" You mentioned you have a site - have you listed it with the search engines? www.smartz.com/web-marketing/search-engine-optimization/submit-site-to-search-engines/
|
|
chelsfield
SWF Writers
Posts: 700
Joined: Mar 28, 2012 3:07:24 GMT -8
|
Post by chelsfield on Jun 15, 2017 21:15:11 GMT -8
I'm not looking for recommendation of sites in general, although thanks for that, Gary and Chris. I am more interested in what combination of tools each contributor to this list uses, what they absolutely swear by and what they avoid at all costs. Everyone seems to have their own approach. And putting these descriptions in one place on the list would be helpful to newbies, instead of having to search through threads.
|
|
|
Post by Ted on Jun 16, 2017 3:46:01 GMT -8
What authors need is a retail/distribution site created by authors who've experienced all the shi*. Ted, I wonder if there is anywhere on this site that contributing authors can just have a brief paragraph on the mechanics and promotion of their publishing. For instance, Gary doesn't publish with Smash, but I know he distributes his work through other channels aside from Amazon. Many others have tried different ways of publishing and promotion. I know I could hunt through different threads to discover what Gary or Julie or you are doing to distribute your books, but that would take a while and I am sure to miss pearls. I also acknowledge that we have our profiles, but could there be a more visible way, readily available to newbies and those like myself who think, "now I know DJ had some good advice on this, now where is it?!" There is the Marketing board, smashwords-forum.proboards.com/board/17/marketing which has information from members but not all in one thread. I could add a pinned Thread in Marketing titled 'Marketing Tips from our members' or something like that. A member could then post their knowledge and experience in that thread instead of General Discussion or elsewhere. Let me know if that works for you, or if I'm not quite right in what you want.
|
|
chelsfield
SWF Writers
Posts: 700
Joined: Mar 28, 2012 3:07:24 GMT -8
|
Post by chelsfield on Jun 18, 2017 2:02:29 GMT -8
Hi Ted, I think that's a great idea. My only quibble is that the topic would not just be marketing, but publishing tools (some use Apple, some use Smash etc) and distribution channels, Smash, Amazon etc)
|
|