Tag: fae corps publishing

Publishing Demystified

So, this is a new type of post. It’s going to be generally a Monday thing – I am going to try to schedule it for the ten o’clock time but if I have any schedule issues this may be the one that I don’t get done.

The purpose of this one is simple. Most likely everyone here knows I run Fae Corps Publishing and I have been doing this in the background for a while now. I plan on talking clearly about the tools I use for publishing, and the way that each one works. Demystifying what I do. Is that to say that I will be making my own self unnecessary? No, because my experience is valuable. I just feel like so much of the process is made out to be harder than it needs to be.

I will admit that I am going to be posting my opinions on the process here… this is my personal blog after all. I will not be using any other author besides me for giving examples. The reason is that I prefer to protect my authors. I’m more than willing to list the upcoming releases for Fae Corps Publishing here, and I likely will.

I am really proud of the work my authors have done. It’s just that if I have a situation that I am going to be tearing apart the process… I don’t think I should do that with anyone else’s stuff.

I will explain why I have certain procedures for the anthologies, and what they are. Including one that seems to surprise most people. I will be explaining my own opinions on the way that anthology design and publishing should be. Again, this is a heavily flavored with opinion section for publishing. (Hence why I am doing it for my personal blog and not doing it for Fae Corps Publishing’s blog)

The first one is more about the post type in general, but I figured that I would include a small schedule for Fae Corps Publishing releases for the rest of the year…(Not linking these as not all have a link yet and those that do would make it clunkier than I need it to be) Though it is tight, I have left a little wiggle room for me to squeeze in my own poetry volumes or maybe something that Serena might finish.

May –

10th – Taming the firestorm by Ashira Datya

24th -Anthology Fae Propaganda

29th – (not a release date but I will be on the Owl Light Network reading Pip and Friends Live)

June –

4th – Anthology The Owl Light Menagerie (a special venture with the owl light network)

14th – Hope Splashes by Patricia Harris

21st – Chasing Ghosts by Serena Mossgraves

July –

1st – The Life Collection by Ashira Datya

5th – The Lightning War: Grounding Unit by Parker LaVitte

19th – Falling in Flames by Ashira Datya

August –

23rd – Beneath the Deep Wave by Andrew McDowell

September –

6th – The Fall by Amima Raziel

20th – The Magick Saga Collection by Ashira Datya

October –

18th – My Gothic Angel by Laj & Khoury Hawkins

25th – Anthology Nightmare Whiskers

December –

1st – unknown by Raz T Slasher (middle grade) (*though I don’t normally have an unknown in my list of release dates… from a couple of authors I will take the chance for “kids week” and save the spot. If I don’t get the book from them I will just have an empty spot for the day. But I think that they are worth it.)

2nd – where’s my Sugar by Patricia Harris

3rd – Pip 4: Pip that is not Yours! By Patricia Harris

4th – Anthology Fae Recipes

5th – Unknown by CM Snow

6th – kids week open

7th – kids week open

8th – Hood of Sedna by Mina Skye

13th – Anthology Honesty in Verse

2025

We already have scheduled Ruan Bradford Wright’s sequel to Toe rag for February. We have a tentative schedule for Dahlia Black to release a book in January. Of course there is two anthologies planned. And kids week.

I know for a fact that Parker LaVitte is planning on doing at least 4 books in his series. Mina Skye has several in hers. Ronald W Gillespie Jr is working on another one. And Amina is working on something amazing as well. Andrew McDowell is working on a third book. All of them are not sitting still… and then there’s Raz. He owes at least one more book of the Silence is Crimson series.

Now when each of them will get the writing done? That I don’t know. I don’t force deadlines because I feel like they stiffle the creativity.

Perhaps with this thread I will be able to open the door and share the publishing thing with more people. Make it less complicated. I have been doing this since 2010. I have learned a lot of things the hardest way.

Prompted

So I have been doing a daily poem and unlike the previous years I have not been posting the prompt that I am following. I probably should… but I really like the way the post looks without it.

If I deviate from the writers digest prompt I will at that point note on the post where I got the prompt.

If you need a different prompt list…Fae Corps Publishing also does one.

Lifts when you least expect

So between the stress of the normal holidays and vehicle issues… I have been a little bit more than usual fighting with my internal demons. To the point where it has even interrupted the writing. Usually the fight feeds the writing…

I’m not sure what the difference is this year but I have been struggling. That being said… my friend Jenny Elliott – writer, and Fae Corps intern…chose the best way to cheer me up.

She has been reading my The Voices within volume. And she came to a poem and decided to tell me that I was more than enough.

Screenshot she sent me.

Then she has been busy with making marketing stuff for Fae Corps and I keep running across my books there.

Though I know it was a part of her job…it really does feel like I have made some difference in this world.

Sometimes we can’t see the world around us for the immediate struggle we are dealing with.

Remember you never know what your reviews will do for the author.

Tools!

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.

Book Birthday – Serena’s published a new one

A collection of stories – a library of scares…. Apocalypse Athenaeum… get your copy here.

Laziness, busyiness or burnout

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.

Serena Mossgraves upcoming books

So first…

Serena decided to do a book similar to my own Anthology Alumni. Hers is all short stories. She chose not to include the ones that are pieces of extended stories.

If you are interested here is the link. It is due to release September 22.

Second, she is going to be working on a 3rd poetry volume. We will let you know when it is available… but here is the cover for it….

And if you have not gotten it…her second one, Blood Red Rain is out for preorder with an August 25 release date.

Wild Wednesday

Wild Wednesday!

So many topics…. what should I talk about?

So, many of you know that I run a small press. Fae Corps Publishing.

We have a busy schedule for the next few months.

March 31 – The Key of the Storm by DW Storer

April 7 – Internal Battlefields by Patricia Harris (My poetry volume)

April 14 – Valley of Thoughts by NK Xero

April 21 – State of Mind by Jennifer Elliott

May 7 – Keko and the Lost Bananas by CM Snow

May 15 – Faery Flying anthology release

May 22 – Toe Rag by Ruan Bradford Wright

May 26 – The Riverside Chronicles by Raz T Slasher

June 1 – Life Lost, Love Gained by Ashira Dayta

June 15 – Blue Ted’s Easter Adventure by DW Storer

There will be more… but that is what I have scheduled for now. We have another anthology call scheduled for this year. The deadline is August.(I will be posting it on the fae corps blog in June.)

I am hoping to be able to do another volume of Poetry at the end of June… but I don’t want to promise it until I get it done.

Books upcoming, and a new Start.

Thoughtcicles will release In January and since I am so very close to finishing with Ethereal Dreams I will be looking at trying to get it published by the end of February (link to come) (I am still 5 poems from finishing it but I should be able to get them done this week) That being said…I always pick my next volume before I get the current one done. I have for the last 3 asked for opinions…but this time this cover has me obsessed. I am hoping to be able to release at least a couple of volumes in 2023, but I don’t want to go making any promises.

Fae Corps is going to be busy. We have 2 anthologies planned, at least one book from DW Storer, a book from Raz T Slasher (maybe more than one), a book from Ruan Bradford Wright, and I have a children’s book planned for kids week. We may be adding in a few other people (depending on how things go). Being as I am the main person running the house for Fae Corps at the moment… that makes it much tighter for me to get my writing in as well.

If you are interested in the newsletter for Fae Corps…I have set up a sign up page. It goes out at the beginning of each month.

Thought, thoughtcicles, and release

So, I have been thinking about when I should release thoughtcicles. Handprints on my soul releases on the 18th. Then the first week of December is Kid’s week. Fae Corps is releasing 2 of my kids books and 3 from other authors. That means that I have been busy with getting them together. I always do a vacation from the publishing from the end of kid’s week until after the first of the year. Three weeks. I could do it during the break…but I feel like I am just asking for burn out if I don’t take the break. I really didn’t expect to finish the volume so quickly. I think that I will schedule it for the end of January so I don’t have to go without the break.

Next year is already looking like a busy year. We are publishing a book by Ruan Bradford Wright. Probably another by Raz T Slasher. I am hoping that we will see the next one from Ashira Datya. Maybe book two from Andrew McDowell? We will have to see. I know that there will be a book from DW Storer. Add in my poetry volumes and I see it as a busy year. The anthologies are also a thing. The blog for Fae Corps Publishing will have more exact details as we have them. Currently I am in charge of the blog there as well.

So, I think that I would be best to remember that I am not supergirl and pace myself. January is soon enough for the release of Thoughtcicles.