Inkabout L. Darby Gibbs

Science Fiction & Fantasy author

Publication

Survey Results: What did you think when you sent your first book off for epublication?

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Fly away and propagate.

I was curious what other first-time authors thought when they sent off a book for publication.  Mine was about the grammar errors I might have overlooked.  I am an English teacher: what else would cross my mind? So I asked via GoodReads, Twitter and Google+.  These are the results.

  • Marcy Peska, Hashtags and Head Buckets:  “Ooops!”  It
    was when I published Head Buckets & Hashtags, and I accidentally
    pushed the publish button before I’d finished formatting photos. 😉
  • Kevis Hendrickson, The Legend of Witch Bane: I published my first ebook when the Kindle still had fresh paint on it.
    My thoughts at the time were more along the lines of Megatron’s famous
    words: “Their defenses are broken. Let the slaughter begin.”
  • Rinelle Grey, Reckless Rescue:  With the ebook, it was “Well, that doesn’t feel any different”, but the
    print book, which I only hit publish on yesterday, it was “What if I
    missed something?” 
  • Micah R. Sisk, PleshaCore:  But if I were to describe the moment after pushing the button as a
    sound, it sounded like nanometer-sized needle dropping into a
    galactic-sized haystack.
  • Adam Osterkamp, book in process, Minnesota Writer blog:  Having just ordered the “proof” copy for my print version, my first thought was along these lines. “What if it prints terribly?”
  • Jason Letts, Powerless: The Synthesis:  
    It was unbelievably exciting. A lot of times I was checking my
    sales at work, and I was so much more concerned with the dollar or two I
    was making a day from the story and gaining potential fans than
    everything I had to do at my job. 
  • Debra McKnight, Of Dreams and Shadow:  Mine ran along the lines of, “Oh no, I forgot to fix the type-o on page three.”
  • Jennifer Priester, Mortal Realm Witch: Learning about Magic: Sadly my first thought was more money related. I was thinking something
    like this: When will the books be available for purchase online and how
    long until my copies arrive so that I can start selling them? And my second one, although you aren’t asking for it, I just find it
    interesting, was about whether or not they would sell and if people
    would like it as much as I do or not.
  • Philip G. Henley,  To the Survivors: My KDP book launch felt unreal and disconnected, although I enjoyed
    seeing the free downloads happen along with the first reviews. Print
    was a different surreal experience. There was my name on a physical
    book. What followed was even more odd, giving the copies to friends and
    family and then being asked to sign them. All very odd, embarrassing
    even.

 I wish more people had responded.  I enjoyed finding others who remembered that moment of final decision.  It is one of those firsts that will stay with us whether we felt fulfilled, let down, frantic with worry or ready to battle bears. 

Now the second time I sent off a book into the eather of e-publication, I wondered why I felt no elation, no panic, no heart thrusting wildly against my ribs.  I wasn’t blase, but I hadn’t been rocked by an overwhelming run of sales on book 1, so I had less uncertainty about what would happen next: Only I would celebrate by dancing in the kitchen, making my daughter blush and my husband shake his head.  Since I now have four books published and my fifth in R&D&R (research and development and redraft), I do feel rather moved peering at the list when I check on Amazon and Smashwords for updates. I think come this July 2014, I may discover a few thrills running up my spine to see book 3 of the Students of Jump hitting the road.

Anyone want to add to the list of first reactions at the cry of “Engage” catapulting off their coddled canary? Post a comment, and I’ll update the list above (this week) and enjoy hearing from you.

I found a hole in my publishing activities

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I knew Smashwords covered all the main bases in distributing to e-book sellers, but I overlooked the Amazon portion of that distribution net.  Apparently, my books were not available at Amazon.

Three years ago when I was looking into e-book publishing, I checked out Barnes & Noble and Amazon.  Through my research I kept seeing posts about Smashwords, so I finally followed their trail and did more research.  I created accounts at all three as I worked out my decision for which one I wanted to use.  Two accounts remained dormant as I made my final decision and published with Smashwords.  I still feel I made the right decision.

But recently, finding that hole forced me to do some more thinking about this.  Smashwords offers the option of closing out a distribution route, so I closed Smashwords distribution to Amazon since I did not meet the eligibility requirements to get on the list and went direct to Amazon and published all four of my books this past week.  Hole closed.

Moral of story: (is not women are entitled to change their  minds) Stay aware of the process you are working and adjust as needed.  I am still with Smashwords, but I am with Amazon, too.

Students of Jump, Book 1:  In Times Passed
Smashwords http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/77866
Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E6HEQ1C


Students of Jump, Book 2:  No-Time like the Present
Smashwords https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/338367
Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E6XLFF6

Gardens in the Cracks & Other Stories
Smashwords https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/177065
Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E6VKC0W


The Little Handbook of Narrative Frameworks
Smashwords https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/331101
Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E7G44NM

I dare you to find me.

Since I own a Sony ereader, I largely go to Sony for my e-books.  Sony also has my books through Smashwords.  Where do you look the most for ebooks, and where do you buy them from (could be different places)? 

Book 2 of the Students of Jump just went live on Smashwords

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No-Time like the Present is published on Smashwords as of just a few minutes ago.  It has been a busy month pulling the last bits together, editing copy and preparing the cover.  I had the best help from fellow author Marcy Peska, who as my beta reader provided advice I could not have managed without.  Check out her books at Amazon.com.

My daughter helped me put the cover together.  It would not be the beauty it is without her eye for detail and design.

Look for the second book in the Student of Jump series at Amazon, Barnes & Nobel and other booksellers in the next week or two.  For the remainder of July, the book will be available for 50% off at Smashwords.  Use coupon SSW50.  This coupon will work with all four of my books until the end of July.

Not just sitting around

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Not just watching the flowers grow.

So I have not been preparing my Tuesday prompts and am not busy teaching, but that doesn’t mean I am just sitting around twiddling my thumbs.  I have been steadily working on two separate projects.  One is getting the second of my Student of Jump books (No-time Like the Present) ready for publication at the end of this month.  I just finished what is my pretend final edit.  The one I convince myself is the last one needed.  But in a week or so it will go through another which will no doubt result in finding so many errors I will be a basket case for a few days, losing all confidence before I do another edit which will do the exact opposite, and I will split the difference and feel fairly confident that I have taken care of all I can.  I have my absolutely wonderful beta reader tackling it right now, which will provide the impetus to make changes and edit again.

The other project is The Handbook of Narrative Frameworks for Novels & Short Stories.  This is a gathering of the narrative mode posts I have been doing since February 2013.  After pulling them together, I edited, added, and am currently creating worksheets that will help make use of the frameworks each one provides for novel and story writing.  All and all I have been busy and since school has let out, intensely content finding myself immersed in my writing, spending time with my family, and taking care of those little jobs that always wait for summer to come.

Building a positive writing community

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When I started on my journey as a writer just one year ago, I decided that I wanted to build slowly.  That is how I build friendships, and mine tend to last.  I want my involvement in writing to be one that carries a positive polish.  So I carry that philosophy into my approach to building a platform and making writing connections. I don’t see the positive in the flash-in-the-pan way of doing things.  So I have published my books (two so far at Smashwords.com) and I have taken part in discussions on Goodreads and this past summer, I began tweeting (which definitely reduced my Goodreads activities).  I have met some writers at both venues that I have built a sense of connection to.  Marcy Peska and L. A. Hilden have been the two that I have recently made friends with.  They are enthusiastic writers and have been most welcoming to me.

Marcy and I have begun a peer feedback process for each other’s books.  I cannot explain how exciting it was to find someone to share my exuberance for completing a writing goal and the desire to write well.  Marcy and I have started to tweet #confettitweets to each other as we
share our writing achievements.  I don’t know about Marcy, but I don’t
have anyone who understands what it means to write and get to the end of
a chapter or a tough go at 2047 words after several hours of typing,
rereading, redrafting and sighing.  So getting those #confettitweets and
giving them as well has been a treat.  We hope to expand our range of
flying confetti to other authors who do their goal dances by themselves
before diving back into their creative muse.

L. A. Hilden and I have traded approaches to using time travel in our books, and it is intriguing to talk about why we chose the means we did.  I have already read Hilden’s London’s Quest (a well-written Regency Romance) and am getting a sneak peak of Marcy’s book Magic All Around (a modern lady comes to grips with the magic she never noticed before).  I am fortunate to have met these two talented writers.

Denise Baer is another author and blogger that I have met.  She has begun a Pay It Forward program on her blog meant to showcase indie authors as well as encourage the review of indie author works.  I participated and am happy to find another author who wants to bring positive action to the indie author publishing effort.

Nick Bost is a book reviewer I met on Goodreads.  He regularly reviews books and as a young reviewer with a good sense of what makes a good read, he is making his mark as well.  I have enjoyed talking about the review process with him.

Today, I just wanted to mark my year of publishing by recognizing the fine people I have met during this part of my journey as an author.  I thank each of them for adding to my slow immersion plan of joining this positive writing community.

End of the Month of July Sale at Smashwords

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The last days to purchase my book at Smashwords are here.  

Anybody who knows me knows I hate this stuff.  But if I didn’t mention again that my books are on sale at Smashwords (half price, making each just .99) and one can download them in any of the popular formats for ereaders and computer eBook readers, I will be berating myself in a few days.

I can just hear it now, “Really, you couldn’t plug your books just once more.  It is not like you have been creating traffic jambs on the internet with your broadcasting efforts to sell your book.  One time really?”

It wouldn’t be pleasant. So, one more time: I have two books, In Times Passed, a time travel novel that can stand alone from the series it begins, and Gardens in the Cracks & Other Stories, an anthology of short science fiction stories.  See my books page on this blog or follow the links for details.

Really one dollar.