Here’s the blurb and a link to Camosun – Publish Your Own E-book to register.

Thinking about publishing your writing but struck out with traditional publishers? Don’t fancy the headache of self-publishing in print? Then it’s time to join the latest publishing sensation.

You can publish your magnum opus (or cookbook, or romance, or…) in an electronic book format, sell it through major online booksellers and receive above average royalties as easy as a,b,c…well, almost.

This course will introduce you to all things e-book including set-up and formatting, online bookselling sites, e-reader choices, cover image basics and marketing possibilities.

And it’s only $75.00 (plus the dreaded HST). Always a full house; love to see you there!

My ebooks will now be distributed to major app marketplaces…for free. How can you beat that?

Here’s a teaser from Smashwords:

Smashwords announced a distribution agreement with ScrollMotion today that will make Smashwords Premium Catalog ebooks available for sale as single-book apps in the major app marketplaces including Apple, Android, Windows Phone 7 and HP’s WebOS.

Full details may be found at Smashwords.com.

Thanks to the great folks at Smashwords, ebook sales just keep gettin’ stronger!

Her first post was about self-publishing.

I’m going to forgo my usual mystery writing column this week to offer her an opp for another post, in time for the publication of her latest knitting mystery, The Sweater Curse.

The Sweater Curse by Leanne Dyck

Congrats to Leanne and thank you for your honesty regarding the writer’s lot.

Writing and Submitting by Leanne Dyck

Knowledge gleaned from a writers’ magazine: a writer’s job is to write and submit. Sounds simple. Until you consider: Write what? Submit where?

In my teens I was seduced by two passions: knitting and writing.
Writing about knitting intrigued me. In 2005, I began writing knitting-related short stories, flash fiction and poems. Here’s an example called Rebellion:

A small group of mothers gather in a kitchen to drink coffee and chat.
Cindy starts, “He stays out all night. Who knows where he goes.”
Linda shares, “She listens to that rap music garbage. Loud. It breaks my eardrums and I’m downstairs.”
Michelle joins in, “He is disrespectful. He calls me an ‘old cow’ and worse. His teachers all tell me he doesn’t listen, but what can I do?”
Ann adds, “First she got her ears pierced, then her nose. Now she has piercings and tattoos all over the bloody place. She even shaved her head. When I say anything she says, ‘It’s my body.’ I have no say. No say.”
Then it’s Rebecca’s turn. “My daughter knits.”
Silence.
Then the room explodes with laughter.
“Yeah, I thought the same thing. I thought ‘a mother’s joy a knitter’. I thought we would sail through the teenage years. No problem at all. Then I started noticing what she was knitting. Let’s just say no yarn manufacturer was getting rich off her. “I told her she was sending the wrong message. I told her that guys would think she was slut, but what does Mom know?”
She is answered by a chorus of “Nothing.”
“Guess what I’m knitting? Come on guess.” She pulls a baby pink something out of her purse. “A baby blanket. Aren’t you going to congratulate me? I’m going to be a Grandma.”

To attract surfers to my knitwear designer web site, www.oknitting.com, I added a blog to my homepage. On the blog I shared news, views, tips. Occasionally, I also posted one of my stories or poems. Wow, was I surprised when I realized these pieces received the most hits.

Inspired, I wrote more and soon had enough to fill an 80-minute audio book. I self-published Novelty Yarn in August 2006.

Here’s a review:

“Novelty Yarn contains a collection of small, tasty morsels that will continue to surprise you right up until the last bite…Ranging from childhood memories about 4-H knitting and lessons from Grandma to night dreams about wild women knitting in the forest, each segment evokes a different mood. Many of the stories made me laugh out loud, while others made me pause…to meditate for a few minutes. The stories are separated by brief interludes of acoustic guitar music…The guitar intervals are just long enough to let your mind rest between the stories. The sensation is like cleansing your palette after sampling each vintage at a wine tasting. The total experience was delicious.” (Donna Druchunas The Knitted Rug, Artic Lace)

I did receive a negative review. The main complaint was that the stories weren’t long enough.

Interestingly, I had begun writing what promised to be a longer piece: The Sweater Curse. Emboldened I rolled up my sleeves and invested more time crafting it. As I wrote, I read the work of other knitting-inspired authors. I found cute stories about nice knitters.

“We’re not all nice!” I screamed. Did you hear me? My main character Gwen Bjarnson did and she agreed.

All writers work at their own pace and in their own way. It was during this time that I discovered what worked for me. What I like to do is write and complete shorter pieces while I tackle something longer. That’s what I did while I wrote The Sweater Curse. Among other projects, I wrote articles for knitting magazines. I gained validation when I received my first cheque for writing one these articles.

Month after month, year after year, I returned to The Sweater Curse. Until, one fateful day, I dotted the last ‘i’ and crossed the last ‘t’. Now what?

I contacted the editor I’d worked with on Maynely A Mystery. I was confident that she would tell me if The Sweater Curse sucked. She liked it and agreed to proof it in preparation for submission.

I’d answered the question: what to write? Now, I needed to address: where to submit?

Unlike Maynely A Mystery that was developed for a small audience, I felt The Sweater Curse would have a wider appeal.

In my search, I left no rock unturned. I contacted literary agents and book publishers. My desire to network with other writers, led me to the Romance Angel chat group. It was here that I found the new epublisher Decadent Publishing.

I visited www.decadentpublishing.com and carefully read their submission guidelines. I spent days polishing my synopsis. I sought the help of fellow authors; they were generous with their helpful feedback. Finally, I took a breath, crossed my fingers and hit send.

Shortly after, waiting in my inbox, was an email from Decadent Publishing. I was apprehensive. I was certain it was another rejection. I braced myself and opened the email. I skimmed the contents looking for the familiar wording. Instead I found ‘will contract’. I re-read it. I asked my husband to read it aloud.

Acceptance, sweet, acceptance, they wanted my story.

I can’t say enough positive things about Decadent. They are a new author incubator. Wrapped in a cocoon of positive energy, I have greatly benefited from my involvement with them.

My journey as a writer has just begun. My dream is to continue to write and submit.

Congrats and thanks, Leanne. You may join her virtual launch party on January 10th to celebrate the publication of The Sweater Curse.

Trying to keep up with electronic publishing is like herding a pride of feral cats who are chasing a flock of chickens who are fleeing a randy Rhode Island Red rooster.

In other words, nie impossible.

I’m trying though…and today have just learned that Google’s E-book store launches today.

As my Publisher’s Lunch Daily email advises: Google declares they have “the largest ebooks collection in the world with more than 3 million titles,” including “hundreds of thousands of books for sale from publishers” as well as “millions” of public domain titles, with the latter provided for free.

Amazing numbers PLUS the e-books are supposed to be readable on multiple platforms, like the iPad, Barnes and Noble’s Nook and Sony’s Reader.

Take a deep breath and dive in. E-booking is really rockin’ now!

With a little advice from Mark and Bill and their fab free Style Guide at Smashwords.com, I updated my e-books and resubmitted them in the Spring…to a resounding silence.

A Hemorrhaging of Souls

But when the fall rolled around and my other titles, which I had also updated, popped up on B&N, I emailed Smashwords again for an explanation.

And this time, Bill was able to get my e-books re-activated though there’s still no information on why the pair was deactivated in the first place.

Teed Off!

Oh, well. You may now buy Teed Off and A Hemorrhaging of Souls through Barnes & Noble.

Only $2.99 US…perhaps a Christmas present for your favourite mystery buff?

This is big news. Effective today, we’ve increased royalty rates for sales at Kobo, B&N and Sony, and these three retailers have also stopped discounting.

What this means to you:

A: For retailer sales from today forward, you now earn 60% of the list price
at Kobo, B&N and Sony, in addition to the 60% you’re already earning at Apple
and Diesel.

B: All Smashwords retailers have stopped discounting prices. This means you
control the price at retail.

Previously, you earned 42.5% of your retail price at B&N and Sony, and 46.75% at Kobo. Kobo actually completed the switch to fixed pricing about two weeks ago.

How’d we do this? We renegotiated our contracts with Kobo, B&N and Sony to move them to what’s commonly known as the “agency” model.

Learn more about this important news over at the Smashwords blog:

Way to go, Smashwords!

Smashwords logo

If you’re thinking of self-publishing an e-book, there’s no better place to start.

If you need any help, shoot me an email at epubbing (at) shaw (dot) ca.

Don’t fret, it’s time to join the latest publishing sensation. You can publish your magnum opus (or cookbook or romance or whatever) in an electronic book format, sell it through major online booksellers and receive above average royalties as easily as A, B, C…well, almost.

All you need is some information and a nudge of encouragement from an expert.

So, why not join me on Thursday, November 18th to find out how?

Sidney / North Saanich Library

I’ll be offering a free introductory lecture on electronic publishing from 6:30 – 8:00 p.m., at the Sidney / North Saanich branch of the Vancouver Island Regional Library, 10091 Resthaven Drive, Sidney, BC, V8L 3G3.

Phone to register at (250) 656-0944.

Look forward to seeing you there!

EPIC, the Electronically Published Internet Coalition™ (www.epicauthors.com) is delighted to announce that your entry, Unnatural States, is a finalist in the Science Fiction Category of the 2011 EPIC eBook Awards Competition™.

2011 EPIC finalist

These awards, presented by the Electronically Published Internet Connection (EPIC), honour the finest electronically published books of the year.

I’m delighted and excited; a wonderfully unnatural feeling.

UnnaturalStates

Fingers, toes and eyes crossed!

The information is gleaned from my little non-fiction e-book primer called Youdunit Whodunit! How to Write Mysteries and offers my tips, techniques and information suitable for crafting of all types of genre writing.

So, even if you write romance, sci-fi, fantasy or horror, please keep reading and learn with us crime writers.

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT (Part 12)

The last group of posts have concentrated on the story structure of a mystery novel. Been there; done that. Now we’re onto developing characters or as I like to think of it: Ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille.

In the post on character development, I introduced an essential question: Who’s telling your story? You can have more than one storyteller but for our purposes, we’ll stick to one.

You need a point of view (POV) from which to tell your tale. There are two common POVs in fiction writing: First Person, which we discussed in our last post, and Third Person.

LEMME TELL IT MY WAY: Today, I’m continuing my discussion on Third Person POV.

In this Point of View, the writer chooses to tell the story from more of a distance by narrating with “He said” or “They said”.

In the last two posts, I offered some reasons to choose Third Person POV; and we introduced the Limited Multiple POV, the first of the three main viewpoint types.

Today, I’m highlighting the Limited Detached POV (the second Third Person POV).

Objective Eagle POV

Limited Detached or Limited Objective: in this POV, the action is supplied through the eyes/experiences of a detached observer or narrator (can be used with more than one person) who, like a fly on the wall, sees what’s going on but offers no insight, thoughts or comments and cannot jump ahead in the story or into other characters’ minds.

This is the least popular third-person POV as it distances the reader, not offering an emotional connection to the story.

Tom Wolfe uses this POV in The Write Stuff: “Jane, this is Alice. Listen, I just got a call from Betty, and she said she heard something happened out there. Have you heard anything?” This was the way they phrased it, call after call. She picked up the telephone and began relaying this same message to some of the others.

Obviously something has gone seriously wrong in The Right Stuff, yet Alice doesn’t offer us any reaction to what’s happened. The reader is just told the facts of the story, feels at a distance to the action and must interpret it themselves.

This detached/objective POV style may be used in First-person POV as well. Conan Doyle employs it in the Sherlock Holmes’ series, letting good ol’ Watson narrate the stories but offer little comment or reaction.

If you found this of interest, you may wish to see the previous How to Write a Mystery posts.

…Of course, there’ll be MORE how-to write a mystery tips and techniques continued in the next Friday post as we continue exploring character development in Ready for my close up, Mr. DeMille, Part 13.

Find out further information or how to purchase my mystery-writing primer e-book, jam-packed with ways to immediately improve your writing, click Youdunit Whodunit (only $2.99US!).

The information is gleaned from my little non-fiction e-book primer called Youdunit Whodunit! How to Write Mysteries and offers my tips, techniques and information suitable for crafting of all types of genre writing.

So, even if you write romance, sci-fi, fantasy or horror, please keep reading and learn with us crime writers.

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT (Part 11)

The last group of posts have concentrated on the story structure of a mystery novel. Been there; done that. Now we’re onto developing characters or as I like to think of it: Ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille.

In the post on character development, I introduced an essential question: Who’s telling your story? You can have more than one storyteller but for our purposes, we’ll stick to one.

You need a point of view (POV) from which to tell your tale. There are two common POVs in fiction writing: First Person, which we discussed in our last post, and Third Person.

LEMME TELL IT MY WAY: Today, we’re continuing our discussion on Third Person POV.

Multiple Lion POVs (credit E. Polinsky)

In the last post, we offered some reasons to choose Third Person POV; now, we’ll move into the first of the three main viewpoint types (Limited Multiple, Limited Detached and Know All) provided by this flexible POV.

1) Limited Multiple: where the action is intimate and immediate when seen through the eyes/experiences of one or more characters.

As in these two characters, whose individual viewpoint is used in separate chapters, from Peter Robinson’s AFTERMATH:

Inspector Banks’ POV: “No, what got to him most of all was the pity of it all, the deep empathy he had come to feel with the victims of crimes he investigated. And he hadn’t become more callous, more inured to it all over the years, as many did, and he once thought he would. Each new one was like a raw wound reopening…”

Jenny’s POV: “Jenny was no stranger to denial, either as a psychologist or as a woman, so she made sympathetic noises and gave Pat the time to compose herself…”

Both characters are speaking in the third person; however, in each of those examples, we are seeing/hearing the story from a single person’s point of view, thus the POV is multiple but limited to what the character sees/hears/does.

If you found this of interest, you may wish to see the previous How to Write a Mystery posts.

…Of course, there’ll be MORE how-to write a mystery tips and techniques continued in the next Friday post as we continue exploring character development in Ready for my close up, Mr. DeMille, Part 12.

Find out further information or how to purchase my mystery-writing primer e-book, jam-packed with ways to immediately improve your writing, click Youdunit Whodunit (only $2.99US!).