Okay…I get recommended writing tools at least once a day…sometimes once an hour. Most of them are bloody expensive.
I can’t afford to pay out for quite a few of them. Oh believe me…I have paid for some, and for services…(Including some editors that I plan to recommend on another post)
This one is entirely about the programs I use.
We will start with the ones I was willing to pay for.
Canva – I pay for the premium features. The reason is because of the amount of use this opens up. I use it for marketing, poetry images, blog images, cover design, and quite a few other fun little things. This is not an expensive cost but it is a monthly cost. I pay $13 a month.
Master PDF – This was a one time cost. It has come down since I bought it. It was closer to 100 when I bought it. It’s now $70. I can use this to make the full covers, sign contracts, adjust a pdf in whatever way I need to. This is the most comprehensive editor I have found. There is a few features I would like it to have and I used to have a pdf compiler program that did those but I don’t have it currently…might look for one.
Google Drive – I pay for the largest google drive so I can have some file access and backup ability. This is not a need. It is a personal preference. I have lost files too often.
One Drive/One Note – okay those who have followed me for awhile know I had to switch my writing on my phone from Evernote to One Note. This was a difficult decision prompted by Evernote choosing to go with a forced AI…I was uncomfortable with it and tried to opt out. The response I got was …sad to say the least. So I pay for One drive to make One note usable. It costs me $8 monthly.
That is it. The paid list.
Now for the freeware.
LibreOffice – This program does everything Microsoft office does and then some. And it does not cost anything.
Sigil – Epubs are the filetype that publishing require. Libre office will export to epub. But you have to fix the file. It only requires a couple of minor fixes – but it needs done if you expect to use the created epub.
And Lastly – this one is a tool I use for Communication.
Discord – It allows me to easily transfer files to the authors and be able to announce upcoming events and such. It makes things easier for me. Fae Corps Publishing’s Discord even has channels for writing games and such to try and help the writers. There is places for feedback and general help, and prompts. All conveniently in one place.
This of course is not all my tools. But it is the main ones. and it gives you a start.
4 books in November (One from Ashira Datya, One from NK Xero that I am still waiting on the cover and Manuscript for, One of Mine, and One of Serena’s that the link is coming soon for)
Then our Kids week has currently 3 books tentatively planned. One by me, one by Raz T. Slasher, and a third by CM Snow.
And Next year’s schedule is already filling up. January has 2. March already has one. And May has one. There are vague others that have placeholders but no defined date yet. I try to limit my calendar to four per month because sometimes even that is more than I can do.
I feel like I want to do more than I am capable of.
And I still have to squeeze my own writing and life in on the schedule too.
This year has been busier than I am used to. It wears on a person.
Serena’s story was accepted a bit ago in an anthology by Circle City Publishing. We just got the link today. It looks like a great read. Get yours here.
Okay I finished the update on Through the Sunshine. The paperback link is right on Amazon… Barnes and Nobles however I am not sure of. It should be right but the price is listed wrong, and it just doesn’t look right to me. So it might be still from the wrong place. If you order it there you are at this point taking a mild chance of getting a bad copy. I will post another time when I am positive it is right on Barnes and Nobles as well.
Again the b2r link is here. The only change is the paperbacks as d2d is not a good place for print.
I have been doing the publishing stuff since 2010. For my own personal stuff, then I started with Fae Corps in 2019.
I struggle with depression, PTSD, Migraines, and a whole bunch of other health issues. Which is why I don’t do more than I do. Fae Corps does limited books because I don’t have the ability to do anything more.
I use several platforms to publish the books, with a few routines to make the work easier for me to accomplish. And I always leave plenty of time on the deadline so I don’t ever get pressured for time. Hence why we are starting to take the children’s book submissions for the kids week books now.
One of the places that I have used for publishing is draft2digital.com and I will continue to for the ebooks. Their print option however is awful. I stopped using them when we were getting reports of the cover for the books being delivered cockeyed.
Now I do the same place as they did separately. Better quality. The trick for their ebook set up is to prevent them from messing with the layout. So the only way to do that is to provide an epub file… which means I have learned how to make that.
That was in 2020 that I stopped using them for print. I really don’t know what I have been thinking. Someone pointed out that the print was wrong for Through the Sunshine… so I checked. I care about the quality of our books. So I will always check. Yes it is something that I can fix. Something that I should have already done.
Now, I am asking myself. Is the 17 books that I still have to port over a sign of laziness? Or that I have been doing too much? And should I even get upset with myself over the whole thing?
Honestly I think that I am just going to get it done and write it off as a learning experience. If I beat myself up over it, well it will just be longer for me to get it done.
The 17 books are a mix of the early Anthologies for Fae Corps Publishing and some of my poetry volumes. In order to get it fixed I will have to take it off sale on the one place and put it back up on the other two. So I am going to be doing this one book at a time. It should only have each book down for around a week in print only.
I will get each of them updated on their books2read.com links. I plan on posting on fae corps publishing as I have each book updated. This is a ridiculous amount of work and I am probably still going to be dealing with this well into the next year.
I have been doing the layout for Muse’s Masterpiece, dealing with the anthologies for Fae Corps Publishing, and I am sick. And I look around at the new poetry volume…there is only 3 poems in it so far.
My housework has fallen behind…
And everything aches…
And the squirrel brain says that I am a failure because I am not writing.
Sometimes we have to learn to tell our brains to shut up.
I am doing all that I am capable of right now.
And if anything I need to slow down, rest more because my body is still not feeling well.
So, hush you squishy ball of overworked fat. I am doing as much as I can do.
Fae Corps Publishing is releasing two new anthologies. My poetry will be in Dark Dreams: Ready for the Day along with a new story from Serena.
Serena will have poetry in Dark Dreams: Letting in the Night. I don’t have links for both yet…but I will get them posted here as soon as I do. (The link for Day is giving me trouble. I have the one for Night…) Come back in a week to see the pretty covers I designed for these two anthologies.
July, I am hoping to release my coloring book – Color My Art – and Quiet Screams and a new one Titled Anthology Alumni. I, as you can see from the lack of links, have not gotten a confirmation that I will be able to do all three of them in July.
I already have my kids week title in preparation. It is currently in the editor’s hands, and I am about to do the illustration in June.
About Anthology Alumni… Quite a few of my poems have been published in various places. Anthologies, websites, and ezines. I don’t usually put them in my volumes once I submit them to other things. So, I thought I would gather all of them up. Note where the original publication – if any – is. And create a new volume. Below 👇 is the cover for this.
Pattimouse 