This year has been an incredibly difficult one. I have been working on writing this volume for most of this year. I finally finished with the writing and I have limited time right now to get it presentable. I had hoped to do it in November. However so that I have time for to make it shine… I think that I am going to do a December first release. I am always working on the next volume… so I thought that I would reveal the cover of the next one.
Look Forward to links and Information on Song of Shadow, For that is upcoming.
This has been a crazy month so far. Fae Corps is releasing 4 anthologies on the 31st, and I have been busy getting them ready for release. Then I get a seasonal crud. So I have been sick for the last two days.
I am starting to feel better and I look into the blogs (as I am often the one that maintains the Fae Corps blog). I did a few planned posts and decided to read the blogs that I follow to find a few to spotlight. Y’all! I literally had an angry comment on one of the shared posts claiming that I posted it without permission. I have taken the post down, unfollowed the blog in question, and blocked them so I will not accidentally see them and reblog anything by them.
I was under the impression that reblogging gave the post more reach. Which seems like more people seeing what you wrote is better? I don’t know.
I am not going to dwell on this. Instead I will let you know that we have a newsletter now (see the Fae Corps blog). We are always looking for stories and poems to feature on both. I like to link directly to the persons site when I feature people.
I have a few more people in our author spotlight file to still post on the blog… I have not forgotten. Once the meet the author for the new anthologies are done I will be returning to focus on those.
#NIghtmareWhispers PRE-ORDERS ARE HERE! Nightmare Whispers Volume 1: The Darkness Within releases on October 31st 2020, but if you act now you can pre-order yourself a copy of the books for the discounted price of $5.#NWTheDarknessWithin #Anthologies #Horror- Pre-Order Here: http://www.books2read.com/Nwthedarknesswithin
#NIghtmareWhispers PRE-ORDERS ARE HERE! Nightmare Whispers Volume 2: Madness Echoes releases on October 31st 2020, but if you act now you can pre-order yourself a copy of the books for the discounted price of $5.#NWMadnessEchoes #Anthologies #Horror - Pre-Order Here: http://www.books2read.com/NWMadnessEchoes
#NIghtmareWhispers PRE-ORDERS ARE HERE! Nightmare Whispers Volume 3: What Remains releases on October 31st 2020, but if you act now you can pre-order yourself a copy of the books for the discounted price of $5.#NWWhatRemains #Anthologies #Horror- Pre-Order Here: http://www.books2read.com/NWWhatRemains
Ok. I am doing this as a personal project. I am putting together my grandmother’s stories and poetry my boyfriend’s grandmother wrote. But I want it to reflect the wisdom of all grandmothers. So here is my request.
Do you have a story that you remember your grandmother (abuela) telling? Or a bit of poetry they wrote that you would love to see in print? Try submitting it for this anthology. I am busier than I have any reason to expect – so I am setting the deadline for December first with a expected publishing date of the first of January.
I am also accepting art. I only ask that it is from your grandmothers. And that you are able to give consent for me to publish it.
To submit email the creation and a small introduction (preferred with a picture) of your grandma who created it. The address for this is authorpoetpatriciaharris@gmail.com
The above image will be the cover. I realize that this is gender biased. I feel like I have more from the amazing women who I am decended from than I do the men. And since I have been wanting to honor my maternal grandmother… This was born. Maybe I will someday do a call for grandfather lore… But first I need to do this.
Also… Notice that this is not a Fae Corps Inc project. There is a couple of reasons. One – this is a very personal project. I have been wanting to do it for a little while. Two – Fae Corps Inc has projects planned for the next two years. I will be posting the next call for submissions for them in November. The deadline for it will be after the first of the year. I want to release this with the new year.
I decided to do something fun today for Monday Poetry…I decided to show y’all my poetry related pinterest boards. Pinterest is a black hole for me, a time sink where I will lose track of time. So let me show you some of what I have been doing there.
first board is other poets and fun bits of lyrics. I enjoy reading poetry as much as writing poetry. so I save the ones I like.
The second board is Prompts. because sometimes the muse is a fickle thing.
Hello my dear readers, I am hoping this finds you well. It has been a bit since we had our tea party. Tonight I am doing a nice hot cup of Chai.
Well, We have what looks like two volumes of submissions for Nightmare whispers. Fae dreams is collecting submissions as well. Both are planned for a October release. Fae Corps has managed a Duo-trope listing!
I have slowly been working on revisiting all of my older volumes to make the layout just that much better. I have also been writing, so I should have at least one new book to share before the end of the year.
Ok, last week I discussed desktop publishing programs – word processing types. I left the pdf programs for today. I have three different programs to suggest… And each has a different user feel.
We will start with the most basic. Adobe. I personally found that the editing ability for this program is lacking. It has a few free features, but with the pdf programs you really do get what you pay for. You used to buy it straight, but Adobe has taken most of their products to subscription. Right now there is 2 plans. ($15 and $13) both require a yearly commitment.
The next one served me well for many years. It is also one that I still use for details that are not supported anywhere else. The program is Nitro’s pdf productivity suite. It’s $159 for a single license. I honestly recommend this program, even if you do get one of the others.
And then the last one. This is my current program. Quoppa’s Pdf Studio is a solid editor. It has a solid ability to make sure your documents are just as you want them to be. Two tiers of possible cost. $89 or $129. The site lays out the features well.
So I was thinking about doing a discussion on Friday about the programs that I use/have found for making the files for publication. Then I realized that this was actually a better topic for a Monday Money post. The reason? Because the programs are an investment. A fairly costly one.
I will start with a free program. One that I highly recommend for anyone, author or reader alike. It is Calibre. It’s a ebook library manager for windows. It has a decent conversation ability and lets you edit epub files as well. That really makes it a very useful program.
My next suggestion is another free program, however it is only really good for the author who is looking at using KDP only. Kindle Create is wonderful if you have no interest in publishing anywhere other than Amazon. It has a previewer and is user friendly.
Another open source /free option, and one I am currently exploring, is Scribus. This is a complicated program with many options.
The last free option is libreoffice. It is a full featured office program that is free. I, personally, try to pay as little as possible for my tools and still try to retain quality. This is the best office program and it is free.
Ok. Here is where I start to talk about cost. Scrivener. It is not an easy program to use. There are a huge amount of tutorial videos on YouTube. It’s cost is $40, but there is often deals that can cut the cost in half. It is a one time cost vs subscription pricing. This program saves files in epub or any other format you want.
Now, this one is a program I found when I was looking for scrivener’s link. Iiving writer seems to be similar to scrivener. It’s pricing is a subscription service. It’s $96 a year or $9 a month.
This post has already gotten bigger than I expected. Next week I think that I will cover 3 pdf programs. That way I have a topic and this post can be ended.
Ever feel like you are doing the same thing on repeat…ad nauseum? Well that’s what formatting of books often feels like. When I first started wanting to do desktop publishing, the pdf was the file of choice… It was supposed to be “print perfect ” as it allowed your to see how your file would be when it printed.
Well now it is one of multiple file types you need to know how to handle. And then there is the files that change after you convert it to be what you need.
Each site for publishing requires a different format. Kdp(Amazon) requires docx. Draft2digital for the ebook (if you don’t want them to change details) needs epub. And the print book version for them needs pdf.
So on days like today when the responsibility of publishing is too much… Those are the days when I step back. I breathe. Tomorrow is soon enough for all of that. I think that tommorow I will talk about the computer programs that I have found to be most useful in making the formats needed for publishing.
Above you see my two current decks. The way that I do readings is simple. You let me know which you want, I read, you donate to my PayPal what you feel appropriate. The options are 1 card or 3 cards. I read what I see in the cards. You don’t have to ask questions or give me information. It is a fairly simple reading either way.
Now if you want a video chat reading with more of a complex read… I use the Celtic Cross layout. 7 cards. I will send if asked a recording of the reading (Done in Zoom) That is $25 straight up. That one I ask for the money up front as it is a very time consuming affair.
I always am as discreet as you would like. For any reading you receive a picture of the cards and my reading of them. And you always choose the deck.
Pattimouse 