Wednesday, August 15, 2012

It's a Book!

My short-story collection is now a real book. Really! It’s called “Laments.”

For those who have been following my blog for the past few months, you know I was a bit apprehensive to self-publish. After  corresponding with successful Kentucky authors Kallypso Masters, Teresa Reasor and Devon Matthews and a few friends, I decided to take that big step, at least for me.

After six rewrites, I turned to an editor, Joan McKinney, to read and make necessary corrections and suggestions to the manuscript.

With everything in order, I hired Tugboat Designs for cover art. After that task was accomplished, I contracted with them to format the manuscript for publication at primary sites that transformed it to an ebook and print edition -- Amazon Kindle, B&N's Pubit, Smashwords, and Amazon's CreateSpace.

I read several books about self-publishing including Mark Coker’s "Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success,"  Jim Kukral's "The Ultimate Digital Promotion Handbook," and Kristen James's "How to Sell More Kindle eBooks." I also perused many blogs and articles about the digital media.

I especially enjoyed Coker's book. The founder of Smashwords, he presented a well-balanced and insightful view of e-publishing.

For those interested, “Laments” can be found at:
Smashwords
Barnes & Noble
Amazon.com (ebook)
CreateSpace (paperback)
Feel free to ask me any questions you may have about epublishing. And if you decide to read the book, please leave a comment/review at the site (and do that for other authors as well after you finish their books).

Until the next time…

7 comments:

  1. What a great accomplishment! Congratulations on this and past books as well. Continued success all the way!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks, Socorro. I wish you success in your writing endeavors as well.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It looks like you did everything the correct way - unlike me. Good luck with your sales.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Congratulations, Michael! I wish you all the best. Hope you sell tons! :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks, Roger and Devon. Some say that now comes the hard part -- marketing and promotion -- while still trying to write. Always a challenge for writers!

    ReplyDelete
  6. CONRATULATIONS!!! this is huge!!! I really hope you have tons of success :D

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thank you, Elizabeth. Now the job of marketing and promotion. :( And I hope to start a new book in a few weeks.

    ReplyDelete