Be safe everybody!
I’m dreaming of a white Christmas…
I love snow. People think I’m a bit nuts, but waking up in the morning and seeing a fresh blanket makes me positively giddy. So of course, my two winters in the Yukon were a dream come true. Yeah it was cold, but the snow came early, stuck around, and stayed pretty for months on end. It literally was a winter wonderland, complete with picturesque snow-covered mountains.
And now I’m spoiled. Living south of 60 once again has left me with ‘winter shock’ – I just can’t get used to the total lack of wintery weather, and I can’t seem to get in a Christmassy mood because of it. We’ve had the occasional bout of flurries, but mostly it’s been rain and disgustingly mild temps. What the heck happened to winter?!?!
Totally desperate, I’ve been treating my winter shock with pretty Christmas lights and classic holiday tunes. And of course, writing winter-themed fiction.
It’s not working.
So, it’s time to send a plea to the Big Guy Upstairs. How about a big dump of snow on Christmas day?
Here’s hoping…
Happy Winter!
So, I guess today is the first day of winter. Yay! Hopefully that means real snow soon in my neck of the woods. In honour of today, I have a present for you lovely readers – a coupon for a free download of Wishing.
Just enter the code during checkout at Smashwords and enjoy! It expires at midnight EST, so act fast. And reviews at the Smashwords link would be greatly appreciated.
Coupon code: DV76H
Happy reading!
DO judge a book by the cover.
Every time I get an email saying someone has bought my ebook, I get excited and hyper all over again. Do I sound like a noob? Probably, but I don’t care – people are reading my stuff! Yay!
Ok, on to serious book business…
The ultimate decision to self-publish came after a couple months of obsessively reading every blog, ebook and article I could possibly Google. What did I find? Mostly, that there are 3 things you can’t skip if you want any chance of being taken seriously. The first is editing. Whether you hire someone or use an automated service, editing is a necessary tool that adds that final, professional sheen. I’ve read more than my share of poorly edited ebooks (even ones from legacy publishers!) and it drives me up the wall. Since Wishing is just a short story, I used an automated service and I was really happy with it. For something longer though, I might find an actual person to do the editing for me.
The next thing on the self-publishing checklist is a cover image, but I’ll come back to that in a minute. The third part is self-promotion – getting your name out there, and having it link back to your books in as many ways as possible. Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads and a blog are pretty standard when tackling the whole promotion part of the indie publishing trifecta. I’m no stranger to social media – I’ve had various Facebook and Twitter accounts over the years. But the idea of putting your real name out on the internet, with the intention of being noticed? Well, that’s new to me. I used to pride myself on the fact that Google couldn’t find me, but if you check now, I’m kind of all over the place. I need to keep telling myself that it’s a good thing!
So… covers. It’s like going for a job interview. You may be qualified, but showing up in sweats and a ripped tee is not going to get you hired. A beautiful, quality cover is like a fancy new suit – it gives that great first impression that makes people want to invest their time and money in you and your book. You just have to make sure that the book lives up to the cover hype!
At first, the idea of creating a cover had me stumped. For all my familiarity with tech, up until now I’ve never tried Photoshop. And although I am impressed by great covers, trying to figure out what makes them great can sometimes leave me scratching my head. But then I stumbled upon Fena’s website, and her work just blew me away. She’s 17 years old and creates ebook covers for indie authors. She agreed to create the Wishing cover for free (thank you!) and I can’t wait to commission the next one. Her rates are incredibly reasonable, and the results make it so worth it. If anyone is looking for a cover artist – check her out!
Wishing!
My Christmas themed short story has been released into the wild! Wishing is now available on Smashwords for 99 cents USD. I’ve created a new tab called My Books – I’ll be listing my titles there from now on. Once Wishing has been distributed to Apple, Sony, B&N and Kobo, I’ll update the page with more linkies. Enjoy!
Synopsis: Carol is on a mission – to deliver a special package to her sweet, but forgetful husband. And no amount of snowy tundra will stand in her way…
I am so freakin’ excited right now… 
