Also, my "Zeena Dragon Fae" series was featured over on Sally's blog in her Monday edition of her cafe and bookstore posts, which Sally kindly did to help announce the fact they're available in audio now.
By the way, last week's post had already gone live before I saw this, but I got an eMail from CreateSpace that mentioned the merging of CreateSpace and KDP, that stated the following:
In a few weeks, we’ll start automatically moving your CreateSpace books to KDP. Your books will remain available for sale throughout the move and you’ll continue to earn royalties.
My thoughts on reading this echoed my thoughts on reading something along the same lines in an eMail a friend, and fellow author, Alex, sent to me the day before informing me of the merge - in case I wasn't aware of it - which were along the lines of, "Thank God! I don't have to do the work." I was seriously dreading having to deal with moving all my titles, so I'm extremely relieved they're doing it for me. I'm not entirely enthusiastic about having to deal with stuff on Amazon directly, but at least they've added the features I was concerned they wouldn't, like the ability to have your books for sale in places other than Amazon, for example, among other things. Plus, as already mentioned, I'm extremely relieved they're moving my books for me. At least I only have to deal with adding each new title in the future, especially since I was able to finish sorting the setup for the paperback version of "Where's Noodles?" before they started messing with things, which Lilie and I will soon be announcing the availability of. Luckily, this doesn't matter for the audio books I have in production, since they're via ACX, which is a different part of Amazon's publishing services, so I can keep working on getting those sorted, and maybe even see about starting to take auditions for a narrator for Lilie's book soon.
Anyway, if you'd rather move your book(s) yourself - assuming you still can, and CreateSpace hasn't started moving yours already - here's how to switch from CreateSpace to KDP Print. Whether you do it yourself, or wait for them to do it for you, like I'm doing, you should probably check your book(s) settings after the move is done. They should be fine, but it doesn't hurt to check things out, tjust to be sure.
You can see more from the eMail CreateSpace sent in this post, along with some comments on it by the post's author. Also, here's another post about the fact CreateSpace and KDP are merging, in case you haven't heard enough about that yet.
Regardless of whether or not the CreateSpace and KDP merger matters to you, or how you may feel about it, if you write and publish books, chances are you'll want to market them. At least, you will if you want to sell any. If you do any of that marketing via Facebook, you may wish to take a look at this short post about the changes in Facebook ad targeting.
Also, if you're on YouTube, you may wish to check out these 4 useful tips to promote a book on YouTube more effectively.
Where ever you market your books though, publish and promote them without apology. If you've produced the best product you can, promote it. If you feel you could do better, do so before trying to market and sell it. Don't rush it out and then apologize for doing so.
Next, here's a post about how to market your book - when you hate marketing, and one about some ways to get reviews for your book (since having reviews can sometimes help in your marketing efforts).
Another thing that can help generate interest in your book is to share teasers. So, check out this post on how to tempt readers with a sample of your writing, for some ideas on how to get started with sharing teasers for your book.
Of course, since you have to write the book first, here's an interesting post that discusses some ways creative writers can use AI to their advantage.
This next post is a great one that lists 12 things they don't tell you about being a writer. Plus, here's one that lists 12 things writing experts almost never tell aspiring creatives, and another that discusses 4 misconceptions about writing a novel.
Next, here's a great post on why you need to accept some of your stories are being written for the future you, which could be why your draft is taking longer to finish than you expected it to.
Speaking of deadlines: making the best use of your time depends on what works for you, and you're not the only one who has to juggle writing tasks with other things. If multi-tasking is the only way to make it work, do it. Most of the time, where there's a will, there's a way. I say, "Most of the time," because I do appreciate that sometimes life really does get in the way.
Remember though: stop taking your writing so seriously! Seriously... Sometimes it's OK to just have fun with it. In fact, here are some fumblerules of writing. After all, what you create is less important than the fact you created it. Plus, sometimes it's the small things that inspire us the most.
With that in mind, here are 13 ways to challenge yourself as a creative human this month, 4 random skills that are surprisingly useful for aspiring writers, and 10 fun idea-generating activities and story starters.
Now,let's discuss some ways to add wordplay to your writing, the best ways to use metaphors and other literary devices, spacific dialogue tags, and the use of creative grammar.
Speaking of wordplay and such, here are 10 reasons storytellers should dabble in poetry for those who don't already do so, or 10 reasons it's good you're dabbling in poetry if you already are.
Oh, and... Here's what to do when someone has already written your book.
Regardless of what you write, should you ask for feedback on your novel while you're still writing it? The short answer is probably not. At least, not until you've finished the first draft.
Speaking of the writing of your first draft: bear in mind, it's OK to write out of order sometimes, especially if you're stuck on a certain scene, but know what you want/need to write for another. Hey, whatever works, right? The main thing is to get that first draft written, whatever it takes.
Finally, when you've finished writing your book, here are some things to consider if you want to write a sequel.
5 comments:
Amazon also said that once your CreateSpace book is moved you cannot edit it. Did anyone else read it that way?
That is good that they're doing the work of moving everything.
Thanks for sharing so many great links.
McEyes:
They said while they're doing the move you can't edit anything. Once the move is complete, you can edit things via the KDP dashboard.
Danielle:
Yes, I'm very relieved they're moving things for me. Also, I'm glad you enjoyed the links.
It's probably different with non-fiction anyway, but I always write out of order. I suspect with fiction you'd have to at least have your outline of where you are going, even if you break rank to work on another scene. But non-fiction, you can jump around (well, I do) so long as I come back to what makes sense.
Jeanie:
Writing out of order is doable with fiction, and I do know of people mentioning doing it in the past. But I imagine it happens a lot more with non-fiction than fiction.
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