Coffeehouse Writers Anthology

🌟☕️ANNOUNCEMENT:☕️🌟
Coffee House Writers is publishing not one but TWO anthologies this winter!! Mark your calendars for November 10th to see both covers and find out more!!

I do not know which volume my Poems will be included in…But there are four. 🦄🐉

#coffeehousewriters #WritingCommunity #writers #writing #anthologies #poem #poetry #poetrycommunity

Monday Money – pdf

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.

Echoes into the void

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.

Thursday Recovery Party

Hello my lovely readers. I don’t know if you missed me yesterday… I was terribly ill. My daughter had it (a stomach bug)… And apparently decided to share. So I spent yesterday in illness. Today I am doing much better, though I am still being careful with food.

This week has been a slow one for news. The preorder for Through The Sunshine and Poetic Reminders are still going. Fae Corps still has 2 anthologies that they are taking submissions for.

Now… Here’s something that I rarely do. I have many writers as friends on Facebook. I don’t promote Facebook off of there much… It just feels pushy most of the time. However… This is a story worth sharing. This is part of why I have gone almost completely to draft2digital. I only use my kdp account for when Amazon gets too picky and refuses something that I know should be publishable.

Hopefully this finds you all well. Tell me what is new in your world?

May Links (delayed)

First off… Two preorder links to start with. http://Www.books2read.com/throughthesunshine & http://www.books2read.com/poeticreminders

Serena’s books-

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The Death Of Neverland

Mobi – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06VTCKZ3H

Paperback – https://www.amazon.com/dp/1729360181/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_StH1Bb9MJD9M5

Draft to digital – https://www.books2read.com/u/mVB5p5

************************************

Rust, Gore, and the Junkyard Zombie

Mobi – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07B7J5FSS

Paperback – https://www.amazon.com/dp/1980471320

Draft 2 digital – https://www.books2read.com/u/47ZAa7

************************************

Under the Mists (a multiple author anthology)-
https://www.books2read.com/underthemists

************************************

Faery Footprints (a multiple author anthology)-
https://www.books2read.com/faeryfootprints

Organization demons eating motivation

So I may have been mistaken. I was thinking that I would be a while before I could release another poetry volume… Except for the fact that I have been writing… I just had no organization. I have a few poems still out for other publication and I did not want to use them until I knew what they were going to do.

I have been writing and not putting the new stuff in folders. So when I told y’all I was not releasing soon… Well it felt like a failure. I don’t like that. So I started organization. I decided that I don’t want to release heart drops yet. That title and cover feel better for love poetry, which I don’t write often. So I will be releasing Poetic Reminder instead. More info later this week. Hopefully including a preorder link.

So you want to promo your book

Ok… You have a manuscript written and ready for publishing… Now what? Here comes what I think is the hardest part of it… You have to build up interest. If you are a introverted shut in like me, you don’t do well with face to face. Personal sales are always going to be better. People always find it harder to say no in person.

Still, it is not hopeless. Eye catching promotions with a good blurb, a good cover with a intriguing title…. These are essential for a online sales campaign. Setting up a preorder helps too. (I found that out the hard way. Impatience is a flaw… Lol)

So you start with the title and cover. You have a blurb (it is the description you wrote for the back cover). This is enough to start doing some promo images.

I have recommended Canva before, it is free to use. Premium only opens fonts and images that are locked. Having recently dealt with new authors learning about this, I think that the advice most need is to experiment. You want easy to read and pleasing to the eye.

The images above are examples of promo images. These were all done for Fae Corps Through the Sunshine anthology. Note that the text is eye-catching but readable. All include the story blurb, the cover, and the author picture and name. Each is a little bit unique with a common theme. You can do multiple images, that is ok. You should share to each of your social media outlets and try to get your friends to do the same.

Some of the marketing is understanding your ideal reader. Not everyone is your reader. If you try to please everyone you will fail. Like Serena… Her ideal reader for her books is generally one who enjoys a good dark side. Horror and dark fantasy that is blunt in how it deals with the story. One that doesn’t shy away from a little gore. The story in Through the Sunshine is a little lighter for her usual. My reader is usually children or those who love poetry.

You also want to consider the world stage. This affects the reader greatly. Right now people are clamoring for escaping from the mess of the real world.

So you have the reader in mind…make an image to appeal to that person. For example… For Serena’s The Death of Neverland I searched for bloody journal… Added the book cover, some text to invite curiosity, and the link to buy the book.

Note that the link is in red to make it more visible. Be careful with colors. You need for people who are color blind or visibly impaired to be able to read it without trouble. Brighter colors in fonts often hamper such. Also bright yellow and white background colors can be painful.

Hope that this helps. Do you have any questions on marketing? (Another thing to look for is blogs that are willing to post book promotions. I do on occasion. So does Functionally Fiction who also does book reviews.) Reviews are your biggest promotion. Many readers will base their choice on reviews.

Book covers and ambitious ideas

Ok. April is likely to be a very busy time. National poetry month usually sees me posting poetry posts on here daily as I do the P. A. D. Challenge. I also plan on doing a daily prompt for the Fae corps Blog. It is also going to be when we are starting a call for submissions on two different anthologies. Fae Dreams… Poetry, art, and short stories with a theme of goals, plans, and dreams. (We recieved one too many submissions for Through the Sunshine and offered a guaranteed spot in this to the author). And Nightmare Whispers, a group of horror stories. This one is a tribute to where we started.

I am working on editing the stories submitted for Through the Sunshine, and compilation of Birchwood Grove Gazette. We are doing the basic edits… Then we give the author time to do their own edits. After we recieve the polished story we finalize the formatting of the final anthology. We have to get it all ready by the middle of May for release in June.

My partner and I discussed delaying Fae Dreams. We may still. I have to see how things go. I don’t know yet how ambitious we are going to be. We have ideas for a thriller themed anthology as well, though the title and cover have not been forthcoming from our muses so far.

I am proud to claim that the above covers are my creations. I think that I am really getting better at this. Keep an eye on the Fae Corps Blog, as that is where any official announcement will be. This is mostly me doing mental meandering.

Tuesday Straight Talk

Okay… I know that I usually do Tunes on Tuesday… But something came up yesterday, and I want to discuss it.

A friend in the indie writing community discovered a pirate site… With almost all of my books and all of Serena’s listed. Talk about mixed feelings… Part of me feels betrayed. The other part is like… Well, at least they are good enough for piracy. I am not going to lie, and say it is about my books being shared. I see piracy in two different ways. Things like peer2peer are different. I see that the same as me sharing the book with a friend. It is not going to make me money… But it is not offensive. At least not to me. The site last night is not p2p.

That site charges for my books. I get nothing from it. It is not certain whether the site delivers the book to the buyer. I don’t know if they are even using the buyer information properly.

So, I wanted to tell you that Serena and I both only publish to the above markets. If you find my books anywhere else then I did not give permission for it to be there. Let me know and I will proceed to attempt to get the cease and desist word to them.

Just an Fyi, it’s illegal to print ebooks. Any site telling you different is questionable anyway. I have arc files for those who are interested in leaving honest reviews, but can’t afford the book. It is not a hard thing to get a copy to read.

February Links

Books I was involved in Editing /publishing:

Under the Mists:
(www.books2read.com/underthemists)

Faery Footprints
(www.books2read.com/faeryfootprints)

My main links :
Come see me on Patreon (http://www.patreon.com/pattimouse)

my author page on Amazon
(https://www.amazon.com/Patricia-Harris/e/B012U5ZRD2)

My author page for Coffee House Writers (http://coffeehousewriters.com/author/pattimouse/)

Find me on Facebook
(Www.Facebook.com/serenitysfall/)

My books-

************************************
The Death Of Neverland

Mobi – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06VTCKZ3H

Paperback – https://www.amazon.com/dp/1729360181/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_StH1Bb9MJD9M5

Draft to digital – https://www.books2read.com/u/mVB5p5

************************************

Rust, Gore, and the Junkyard Zombie

Mobi – https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07B7J5FSS

Paperback – https://www.amazon.com/dp/1980471320

Draft 2 digital – https://www.books2read.com/u/47ZAa7

************************************

Under the Mists (a multiple author anthology)-
https://www.books2read.com/underthemists

************************************

Faery Footprints (a multiple author anthology)-
https://www.books2read.com/faeryfootprints

Pattimouse

A glimpse into the mind of a half mad poet

Tag: indie publishers

Coffeehouse Writers Anthology

Monday Money – pdf

Echoes into the void

May Links (delayed)

Organization demons eating motivation

Book covers and ambitious ideas

Tuesday Straight Talk

February Links

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