Okay, maybe not a great adventure...and not really a unique one, since a lot of you out there have done it already. But I've finally broken into e-publishing. I didn't start with Sleepwalkers because I didn't think that would be fair, considering that it still isn't complete here or on the EMCSA. Plus, I could tell from the e-publishing thread on the MC Forum that it would take a lot of fiddling around before I felt comfortable with the process. I decided to start by publishing a shorter story.I settled on "Love In a Silver Socket" because it seemed to be a good length, and it's more accessible than most of my stuff. So I spent yesterday creating an account at Smashwords [Edit: I'm now up on Amazon, too] and polishing LIASS yet again. It surprised me to realize I'd originally published it back in 2002. I decided it was in good shape, but it needed some buffing up; so as usual I put way too much time into refining every little phrase to my satisfaction. Then I spent this morning buying some stock artwork, making a book cover, and publishing the whole thing on Smashwords. That last part turned out to be just about as frustrating as you might expect, though not for the reasons you might expect. It wasn't the so-called "meat grinder" that gave me problems; it was the book cover and the Smashwords dashboard. But many thanks to dreamsofcontrol on the MC Forum for marking the route so carefully.
I won't try to shove book sales down your throat, but I will invite you to at least take a look at what I've done here and tell me what you think. And yeah, of course, I have to say that if you do buy it, you'll get a nice, fresh take on the story. ;-P
6 comments:
It will all be worth it when you see that first copy sold. Even if you don't care about money, it's still exciting, and you already have a Blog, so if hopefully you're putting a link to it in the story and on your profile. I haven't tried Smashwords yet. I've found Amazon and Lulu pretty easy, each with their own particular frustrations. Good luck!
Thanks, Thomas! I'll be working on the Amazon, B&N, and Kobo processes today. I hadn't heard about Lulu. I'll have to check into that.
You can use Smashwords to distribute to B&N and Kobo. I doubt a book that's up at B&N, Kobo, and Amazon is going to get many Lulu sales, personally. I publish my stuff via Amazon and Smashwords, and something like 75% of my money comes via Amazon alone.
-Aaronhalt
Thanks for the tip! I can already see that Amazon is going to give me the best results. I've uploaded LIASS there and am currently fighting with Barnes and Noble. Nook Press *says* my vendor account is active, but it won't let me publish the damn story!
Ah, well. Off to Kobo now. I guess I'll come back to Nook later and skip Lulu completely.
Are you taking it off the EMCSA, as 8bit did with October 26th?
That's a good question. I haven't decided yet, but I'm seriously considering it.
At any rate, the version I e-publish will be a lot smoother than what you've read already. I've found some places where I can make things clearer and/or heighten the tension (Thanks, Aaronhalt!).
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