Epublishing opportunties

Every writing magazine I now read mentions that epublishing is the future and it can offer more opportunites for writers, and I so agree. This is why I have started a series of stories for teenagers, as I don't think there are many magazines/ezines out there that will take them, so I want to expand my readership and try and get paid for it. I have decided that this series I will publish on Amazon as well as Smashwords as I think that most people have Kindles rather than the other ereaders - expanding my readership again. I have found a cover I like for the ebook and photos of the character in it to go on a special website for the series. I am currently working on the layout of the classrooms in the school, which will also have magical properties to them.
I have sent it off for a second copyedit and proofread, making notes of what I did wrong for the rest of the series. The cover design won't be done for a few weeks as the designer I have chosen to help me is busy on her own book right now until 12 Sept. Meantime I will wait for the edit to come back, amend anything and format the book.

I have also got in mind a series of romantic ghost stories, the first of which was published in Crystal magazine. The second was rejected. Can you see my writing has a theme to it? All ghosts and magic. I have planned to reread the first story next week whilst I wait for the designer to finish her own work and am working on the website pages for the teen series.

So watch this space...

More epublishing

The more and more I read about authors self-publishing ebooks either on Kindle or Smashwords, the more and more I feel that I am doing the right thing. And esp after I read a couple of articles/interviews in the recent Writing Magazine/Writers' News. The first article was by crime writer Stephen Leather. He is printed in mainstream but decided to self-publish ebooks to increase his readership. It has worked because the report read that he has sold 7000 (yes, that is thousand) ebooks in one day (yes, one day). The way he did this is to price his ebooks at the minimum price of 99cents (about 85p in UK).

The other interview was by US author John Locke who is published in ebook only. He decided to do this because, I think by the look of his books, they don't fit into one specific genre, and I know that agents and publishers do like to take on books that fit one genre because it is easier for booksellers to place them in the shops. He said that he did this mainly because he was an first time author with no record of sales, and it has worked. He has just released a non-fiction ebook called 'How I made 1 million sales in 5 months'. Yes, you read that right. I want this book to come out in print as I don't have a Kindle. The way he did this, yes, you guessed he priced his books that same as Stephen did at 99cents and that is the result.

So when I have finished and got my short story out there published, I will do the same and price it at the minimum of 99c and see what happens. I know that others have read this same article and have done this to see what results they get in selling their ebook faster. Meantime, I have rewrites to do on my ebook. I sent it off for a copyedit and proofread and got back a proper critique of it. Thanks Hilary. The spelling, punctuation and grammar are all fine, it was just the way that I worded and structured things and multiple vops, which aren't the done thing normally in a short story. So I have changed it now to be just Lizzie's vop and tried to make it more upbeat. Shall do the typing up of changes tomorrow. Then be working on Hilary's other changes after that.

Will be writing about the process of it here but when it is up and running out there, I shall switch to Netlog blog to post about it there as I have decided to have that blog just for promoting my books, leaving this one to write about the writing process and events.

Embracing new technology

Well, I have decided to embrace new technology and will be soon publishing my first ebook on Smashwords. I wrote a teen story about a girl who had died and was sent to earth to stop a man from suicide last year and entered it for a ghost and angel story competition, but got nowhere. I still liked the idea, and had even thought of a few more to make a series but didn't do anything about it, until now. I had been reading 'The Grumpy Old Bookman's' page in Writing Magazine who had been talking about self-publishing on Smashwords and getting success there, and reading email loops about other authors self-publishing on Kindle. How about giving it a go myself, I thought, it is short to start with and teenagers are bound to be more prone to reading ebooks than younger children. So I went on Smashwords and printed out their Style and Marketing Guides (both free). I have now completed the ebook and sent it for a professional copyedit and proofread, and meanwhile have started formatting the story for ebook. Hope to finish that tomorrow. I am quite excited about it as it's a new venture for me. I am thinking that when it is published and out there for all to buy, to do the round at the local libraries to promote it with either booking signings or just put out some promo material for it - I have in mind postcards or business type cards that I can sign instead of an ebook. I have heard that this is what romance writers in the US do, they call them romance trading cards. I have yet to put this out on my website and once I have worked out a blurb for it then I will, as well as a cover, which I have in mind already. Watch this space...

Determination

I am more than ever now determined to get Allie published mainstream and conventional. Why? The way I got Rosie published wasn't, and it has come back to haunt me time and again, and most recently this week. I had been guest blogging on the Scattered Authors' Society blog once a month and recently they decided to take a look at my publisher, I think because my blogs weren't deemed professional enough to go out to the wide reading public which incs libraries etc. They had a look and felt that the publisher was a vanity publisher. I replied saying they weren't, not quite. Because of this they feel that it isn't fair for the readers to have me on the schedule as I am not mainstream. It is such a disappointment but it is not the first time I have been said no to because of this. I do understand that they have standards. Now I am more than ever to be get Allie and all my other big book ideas published conventionally and mainstream. All I have to do is find an agent who likes my work. So far no luck. Had another rejection this week. Will be sending it out to a publisher whom I met at the retreat in May, which I will mention in the letter. There are other agents out there, and I have been looking in the Yearbook to see who might like my work and have published authros who have had books out similar to what I write. There are a few so will write to them. When I do get published mainstream, and I will, I will be back with all those who have said no to me. So watch this space...

June news

So what happened in June? Lots. At the start of the month I was in the latest issue of Writers' News (in the middle of Writing Magazine) all about my children's story success. Then I had a talk to a library coffee group in Pett's Wood about writing what you know and interests. The same day I picked up a copy of Best of British mag and saw that I had a letter in there so bought it and took it to show the coffee ladies. The talk went very well and they said it was interesting and I sold 2 copies of Rosie. Then a week or so later I got an email from the editor of magazine Your Healthy Living, a free mag from local health stores, to say that I had won prize 2. So my mum went shopping, popped into our local health store and got the magazine, and there was my letter. I got my prize a couple of weeks later of a set of Weleda natural toiletries. More added to my collection. I look forward to using them as this set is for sensitive skin.

This coming week is the 3rd birthday of the Scattered Author's Society blog - awfullybigblogadventure and they are holding an online literature festival for it and I am taking part. It starts on Saturday with different authors doing things every half hour be it blogging, contests, giveaways, videos. My blog appears at 7pm on Sunday so come and join us celebrate.

Mental Health appointment

Yesterday I had an appointment with a Mental Health team, in fact it was a social worker who assessed me, although she didn't introduce herself until a few minutes in to the interview and my mum had to ask her who she was. Anyway, I wasn't sure what it was going to be about and the social worker said that they only deal with mental health issues not Asperger's. She was going to talk about my generalised anxiety disorder which is a mental health issue. GAD is associated with Asperger's I have read. She talked about whether I wanted to go on medication for it and I said no, I wasn't that bad with it and I didn't want to become dependent on them. She then mentioned cognitive behavourial therapy (CBT) where you have a counsellor and over a number of sessions you explore how you feel and why you feel that way. Both my mum and I believe that this could be beneficial to me and we wait and see what happens about it. They said that either they can offer it to me or they can refer me back to Maudsley where I was diagnosed with Asperger's. It was also mentioned about whether I would get a social worker and the answer was probably not because I think it was down to how serious my problems were, and we also brought up benefits, again the answer was no, because of the amount of savings I have got. The social worker said that because of that they wouldn't even consider me. So unfair. One thing we did learn about this interview was that my GP referred me to them originally last year, they had a meeting and decided that because it was all about Asperger's then they weren't the right people for me so wrote back to my GP to refer me to Maudsley. We didn't know this and had thought at the time that nothing was happening because we hadn't heard anything.

On to Asperger's, the social worker phoned the Autistic Society for me to find out about their services and what Asperger's is classed as. She came back after a while and said that they are only a phone service but have walk-in advisory centre local to us and was going to put it in her report to me next week. She had found out though that Asperger's is a Pervasive Development Disorder, so now my mum tells people I have a PDD. It sounds more serious that way.

Now it is back to more waiting. We feel that the Mental Health team we saw won't be seeing me again and it will be all down to going to the Autistic Society for help and support. Financially there is another avenue that might be happening soon. Watch this space...

Adults with autism

Here is an interesting fact I have read in the latest Healthy magazine. In a UK survey 600,000 (yes that thousands) adults have undiagnosed autism. It was suggested that in 13,000 household 1 per cent of older people had signs of social awkwardness (a sign of Asperger's). I am not surprised by this finding as I remember when I first went to my GP to try to get referred he said that lots of people have a variety of it. If I hadn't been made redundant last year then I would be one of those 600,000 but thankfully I'm not now I've been diagnosed and can get help.

It also mentioned that there is a focus more on children with autism rather than adults. I can believe this as I feel that it is easier to diagnose children with autism than adults. I first asked the GP for referral last September and got an assessment for diagnosis in March this year. It takes a long while for the process to go through as you have to get approval from your Primary Care Trust.

I found this little bit of news very interesting and inspiring. Inspiring because I have decided to do what a member of my crit group first said to me when I told her I had Asperger's - write about it. I have ideas for a few articles which I might target for disabled magazines or even healthy magazines. We shall see, so watch this space. On Thursday I have a meeting with a duty worker for an assessment, so shall blog about that on Friday. See you then.