Tag: indie publishing

Publishing Demystified

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.

Today I want to discuss the tools I use to deal with the manuscripts. All but one of these tools are free. They require a little bit of time and effort.

First is open office. This will allow most of the formatting that needs to be done. It functions like Microsoft office without the costs. I can when I have a full manuscript made create the pdf and epub from it that I will need for publication.

My pdf tool, which I rarely use for the manuscripts, is master pdf editor 5. I use it for contracts and covers. (I will come back to the covers in another one of these posts.)

And the last tool today is Sigil. This is the one that takes the time and effort. When you create the epub it will not make it properly. You will have to fix it for the publication. There is a couple of minor things that you need to do to get the epub to pass the check – just when you try to put it in the errors will tell you what you need to take out.

The other tools I use I will be discussing next week as I will be visiting my tools for covers and I will try to walk you through my process there.

I will leave on the bottom of the post the upcoming calendar. I feel like that will help.

May –

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

I will get those listed closer. I feel like if I were to put them on the blog it would put too much pressure. I have “penciled” in dates for several authors for 2025 already.

Publishing Demystified

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.

Today I want to discuss the basics of what a manuscript needs. This should seem like common sense…but it really isn’t.

First off what size is your book?

For the Fae Corps Publishing books I keep the size the same unless it is a children’s book. we publish 6×9 books. that keeps the template I use the same. it is always going to be 6 by 9 with 1 inch margins. (I use the same margin all around. not everyone does that, but I like the way it looks on the page.)

Each book needs the same thing to be a well put together book.  1. a title page 2. a copyright page 3. contents/acknowledgements/etc 4. body 5. about the author/about the publisher

The title page is the simplest part. It is an introduction to the book. it needs to have the title, any subtitle, the author name and possibly the illustrator name. Occasionally a small illustration to draw attention to the title. Think of it as a cover letter for your story.

The copyright page is a bit of a legal document. it has the copyright declaration – don’t use this without permission and it is not your story kinda stuff. it is also where you list your editor and cover designer. it’s where you note anything legal you need to.

The contents/acknowledgements sections are going to be up to choice. not everyone wants to add table of contents, or acknowledgements, or even author notes. This is where they would be put in.

The body. I recommend using the same font for this section and I actually recommend you choose one that is easier to read. gentium book basics, Garamond, Book Antiqua, Courier, or if you really must Times New Roman. (I really don’t like TNR and will go out of my way to avoid it. it offends me to have to read anything in it. I realize it’s an industry standard but I hate it.) Try to keep the font size around 12-16. You want to keep the page count respectable.

About the author/about the publisher… this is supposed to tell the reader where you can be found… it should be in 3rd person and have at least some sort of ability to find your work elsewhere.

That is what I expect to do with each of the manuscripts I format.

I will leave on the bottom of the post the upcoming calendar. I feel like that will help.

May –

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

I will get those listed closer. I feel like if I were to put them on the blog it would put too much pressure. I have “penciled” in dates for several authors for 2025 already.

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.

Book Birthday

Have you gathered bones?

Fae Corps Stance on AI

Our stance on AI

If it’s not one thing…

So, Jenny Elliott and I were talking about marketing stuff and she said that another author had complimented our tactics. Said the only thing that could be made better was the price. I love even numbers and have been doing everything at an even price. Apparently that is a bit of a bad thing.

So I went back and fixed the ebook price by a penny… for everything. And in doing it…Word Play got “republished” on draft2digital. Which means that they decided to review it. And it was written back in the all Amazon days. So I have to go back and fix it. The manuscript has several mentions in it of Amazon. Which causes d2d fits. It means I have to get it done before I can get that one available for Kobo and Apple books. Grrrr. Yeah I will get it done, but I’m annoyed because I thought I was done with it.

I’m also annoyed because I am fairly certain that I created the problem myself. And adding to my own workload is just assine.

Wild Wednesday

So Jenny Elliott – Friend, Intern, all around I cannot live without her in my life type person…asked me what the list was for the anthology publication. (The To-do List that is)

I told her it is the same for each book…and I sat and thought about what that means for the anthologies, for my books, and for each book I work with.

  1. I need a front and rear cover to work with.
  2. I need a clean formatted and edited manuscript to work with.
  3. I need a blurb, and an author list.
  4. I need a Release date.

I often am the designer for the covers my company publishes. That makes having them easier. There are a couple of authors that provide their own covers but most just go with the ones I make.

The authors often just send me the written stories. I put in the formatting and edit it as I go. Many of them have the writing edited before I see it, but not all. Formatting is putting in order – Title page, a copyright page, Contents, Chapters, About the Author, About the Publisher.

Some authors write their blurbs, some expect me to write it. Either way, It is not as difficult as writing the entire story. The author list is an obvious thing…

The release date is based on how many others I have in the calendar at a time. The limitation is mostly me. I can only do so many of these at a time.

Okay I have the manuscript…now what? I use Draft2digital, Amazon, Google Play Books all for Ebooks. D2d has the best expanded Distribution. Amazon has the best reach in general. Google….well…why not? I do Not Like D2d’s Print. So for print I use Amazon and Barnes and Nobles press.

Then I have to deal with Marketing. I try to do the same type of images for every book. Do I always manage it? No, not really. I have way too much going on…and often this is where I drop balls. Ideally, I want for each book to do a cover reveal image set. I want to do 3 teaser images. I also want to share an about the author image for each book. Now the last one can be made once and often reshared for multiple books. An Author does not often change their bio. Mine has changed perhaps once a year. Mostly because I have changed where I am focused. Some authors never need to change theirs. I also like to occasionally do “Coming Soon” images…for example….

It’s simple and really only gives the link and the cover. This gives people the urge to go check it out. Then once you have them…spread those images everywhere.

So that is a peek into my world.

This year

Photo by Leeloo Thefirst on Pexels.com

I was going over the publishing calendar for the rest of the year. Whew.

2 books in September (one of My books, and one of Serena’s)

4 books in October (One of Mine, 2 Anthologies from Fae Corps, One from Raz T. Slasher)

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.

Through the Sunshine

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.

Wild Wednesday

I want to talk about writing children’s books.

Especially writing for either self publishing or indie/small publishing firms. When you think of children’s books…the first thing that comes to mind is golden books. Trust me…that is an unrealistic view of what you will be able to publish.

Amazon has the strictest regulations here, but the others are not far from it. In order to have even a Paperback book you need 24 pages. That is not as easy as you think. For Hardcover the requirements jump to 75 pages. For a kid’s book that is nearly impossible.

This is done I am sure due to the cost of printing each book. You also need to consider the cost of each book if you were to set it up as a Hard back. That often adds a factor of almost $10 to a book. How many parents are going to be willing to buy a book from a new author at such a high cost?

Sometimes it is better to start smaller and work your way big. Paperback for an initial release if it is done right can still look nice.